BALTIMORE — The Ravens probably needed just 5 yards. After a stirring 56-yard kickoff return by Justice Hill set them up in Pittsburgh territory, the Ravens were just a few yards away from the range of kicker Justin Tucker with a four-point lead.
Instead, the offense sputtered and stalled, as it had all night, as it has for the past month.
The Ravens lost 2 yards across three plays and were forced to punt, and that set up the Pittsburgh Steelers for what proved to be an 11-play, 80-yard game-winning drive, capped when rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to running back Najee Harris with 56 seconds left to send the Ravens to a 16-13 loss at M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 1.
The Ravens last-gasp effort to tie the game in the closing seconds ended when quarterback Tyler Huntley was intercepted with 13 seconds left.
The win keeps playoff hopes alive for the Steelers (8-8), while the Ravens (10-6) have already secured a playoff berth but now must await the result of the Monday night game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills to see whether they still have a chance to win the AFC North.
Until then, they will lament more lost chances and offensive dysfunction.
“We gotta play better than that,” head coach John Harbaugh said.
“Not one of our better performances at all,” he added. “Coaching staff, start with that. Start with me, game plan, all of it. Not good enough. Very disappointing. We have to bounce back.”
The Ravens have been held to 17 points or fewer in five straight games. They have not scored multiple touchdowns in a game since a 28-27 loss to Jacksonville on Nov. 27, six games ago.
Huntley made his fourth straight start in place of Lamar Jackson, who has been sidelined since sustaining a sprained knee in the first quarter against Denver on Dec. 4.
Huntley finished 14 for 21 for 130 yards, and his 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isaiah Likely gave the Ravens a 10-3 halftime lead. But the Steelers stymied Huntley and the Ravens in the fourth quarter, with back-to-back three-and-outs that set up the Steelers for the comeback win that avenged the Ravens 16-14 win in Pittsburgh on Dec. 4.
The teams traded early field goals after each mounted plodding, 15-play drives that ate up the entire first quarter. Chris Boswell hit from 21 yards after the Ravens’ defense stiffened inside the 10-yard line, and then Justin Tucker tied the game on a 30-yarder early in the second quarter. Boswell had a chance to give the Steelers the lead again midway through the second quarter, but his 48-yard field goal clanked off the upright and fell no good.
Here are five quick impressions of the game, the fourth in a row in the series decided by three points or fewer:
1. The Ravens badly missed Calais Campbell up front.
The Ravens were playing their second straight game without defensive end Calais Campbell, and their No. 3-ranked run defense was consistently beaten at the point of attack. The Ravens had allowed just 87.5 rushing yards a game this year, but Steelers back Najee Harris totaled 111 yards on 22 carries.
Backup Jaylen Warren added 76 yards on 12 carries, and the Steelers finished with 198 yards on the ground, easily the most the Ravens have surrendered this season. In the meeting between the teams earlier this year, Harris was held to 33 yards on 12 carries, and the Steelers ran for just 65 yards overall.
“Give ’em credit,” head coach John Harbaugh said “They flipped the script. That’s not what we expect. We don’t expect that at all. They got the job done.”
Defensive end Brent Urban said, “It was just unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.”
The run defense was a problem that compounded itself; the Steelers got themselves into several third-and-short situations and converted 10 of 16 third downs, which kept their offense on the field. The Ravens were fortunate that for all the yardage the Steelers piled up, they were held to just 16 points; a first-and-goal situation from the 2 generated just three points after a false start, and kicker Chris Boswell doinked a 48-yard field-goal try off the right upright.
2. The Ravens finally reconnected with Mark Andrews.
The frustration has been evident at times this year for Mark Andrews, who has gone nine straight games without a touchdown, the longest streak of his career.
In this game, though, Huntley found Andrews early and often, and seemingly whenever he needed to up until the final drive of the game. The Steelers had all sorts of trouble covering Andrews, who finished with nine catches for 100 yards, his first 100-yard game since Week 6 against the New York Giants.
Teams have understandably spent a lot of time trying to negate Andrews with double-teams, and the Ravens’ run-first approach has also reduced his impact. But in this offense, Andrews remains one of the most reliable, explosive threats, and the Steelers had no answer for him. They tried linebackers against him, but Huntley found him across the middle, or toward the sideline for a first down.
The Ravens remain glaringly absent of playmaking wide receivers, so Andrews will always be one of the top options. Part of the Ravens’ struggles during the past month has been the disappearance of Andrews, who in the previous four games averaged three catches for 36 yards. He had two receptions for 17 yards at Pittsburgh last month.
3. The Ravens’ wide receivers were virtually nonexistent.
The Ravens had some success with their ground game, with J.K. Dobbins rushing 17 times for 93 yards, and with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley running the show, they lean heavily on their run-first approach.
But at some point, with Huntley or with Lamar Jackson whenever he returns, they need to get at least minimal contributions from wide receivers. In this game, the Ravens’ receivers combined for a total of two catches and 18 yards. The Steelers didn’t fear them at all, and often added another defensive lineman in the box to stop the run.
The Ravens often only have one wide receiver on the field; starter Sammy Watkins was not targeted all night, and Demarcus Robinson and DeSean Jackson each had one catch for 9 yards. That is the sum total of all contributions from Ravens wide receivers.
When the Ravens got the ball back with 56 seconds left, they took the field with multiple tight ends, and Huntley’s first pass was a short checkdown to tight end Isaiah Likely that fell incomplete. Their final possession ended when Huntley, rolling out, threw back across the middle and was intercepted.
The Steelers aren’t exactly a high-octane offense, ranking No. 24 in passing coming into the game with a rookie quarterback who is slowly hitting his stride, but Kenny Pickett — who missed most of the Dec. 4 Ravens-Steelers game while in the concussion protocol — connected on a couple of big throws with rookie receiver George Pickens (2-29) and receiver Steven Sims (3-34) on the game-winning drive. Sims had a huge 28-yard catch, the longest pass play of the game.
The Ravens know that their formula for now involves controlling the game on the ground, but the complete absence of any impact from wide receivers is glaring, even moreso in the final minute when the game is on the line.
4. This team’s playoff hopes hinge on a healthy Lamar Jackson.
The Ravens say all the right things in support of quarterback Tyler Huntley. They like him, they like his competitive spirit. Mark Andrews said Huntley could be a starter for 31 other teams. But the Ravens’ offense is not scoring with Huntley as it did with Jackson, an undeniable fact that hovers over all with the playoffs approaching.
The Ravens have not scored more than one touchdown in any of Huntley’s four starts this year, and that is not going to cut it in any playoff scenario against the types of teams that the Ravens are likely to see.
To be sure, there’s no guarantee that the Ravens will suddenly find themselves offensively even if Lamar Jackson returns to lead them next week at Cincinnati or in the playoffs. It’s fair to wonder how effective Jackson can be coming off a sprained knee, given how reliant he is on his legs to be effective.
But Jackson’s absence for the past month has shown how important he is to this team’s postseason hopes.
It’s still unclear whether Jackson will take the field next week, or even in the playoffs. But any chance to make any noise in the postseason depends on it.
5. The Ravens can do nothing now but watch and wait, and hope to play better.
The next 24 hours figure to be anxious ones for the Ravens. After losing to the Steelers, the Ravens must watch and wait to see if they still have a shot at the AFC North title. If the Cincinnati Bengals (11-4) beat the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, they will secure their second straight AFC North crown and relegate the Ravens to a wild-card spot, which they have already clinched.
That means the Ravens would go to Cincinnati competing only for wild-card seeding, but that also has some weight; finishing as the No. 5 seed would avoid a first-round matchup against one of the AFC’s top three seeds.
If the Bills win, then next weekend’s game between the Ravens and Bengals will decide the AFC North title, with the winner earning at least one home playoff game.
If the Ravens must go on the road in the postseason, at least it’s a scenario head coach John Harbaugh knows well. In fact, Harbaugh has eight road postseason wins, the most of any coach in NFL history.
The Ravens, though, want that division title and home playoff game. They are all Bills fans tomorrow night, but they also know that whenever and wherever the playoffs begin, things need to improve.
“I think everyone knows we need to play better right now,” guard Kevin Zeitler said. “We have another game next week against a very good opponent. It’s going to be a good ‘Come to Jesus’ week this week. We’ve got to get this figured out or else nothing good will happen.”
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