BALTIMORE — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson darted to the left, and the Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers followed him for just a second — until they realized he didn’t have the ball. Too late. By then, Ravens running back Derrick Henry had blasted through the hole up the middle and outran everyone for a 44-yard touchdown.
That play, as much as any other, typified the way the Ravens ran through, around and over the Steelers en route to a 28-14 victory in a wild-card round game at M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 11.
The win is the fifth in a row for the Ravens (13-5), who advance to the divisional round next week, while the Steelers (10-8) tumble into the offseason with five straight losses.
The Ravens didn’t just beat their AFC North archrival, they mauled them in a way rarely seen in this rivalry. Playing without top wide receiver Zay Flowers (knee), the Ravens made a smash-mouth ground game the centerpiece of their attack — a far cry from the AFC title game last year — and bullied the Steelers up front on both sides of the ball.
The Ravens outgained the Steelers overall 464-280, including 308-59 in the first half. The Ravens had 19 first downs in the first half, while the Steelers had two.
Only a couple of nicely placed second-half touchdown passes from Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson provided any suspense.
Led by Henry, who ran for 186 yards and two scores, the Ravens piled up 299 rushing yards on 50 carries against a Steelers defense that seemed utterly unable to stop it — and fairly disinterested in even trying in the first half.
The Ravens stormed to a 21-0 halftime lead, scoring on drives of 95, 85 and 90 yards.
One of the drives covered 13 plays, with every one of them on the ground. A couple of those runs were improvised scrambles by Jackson, but for the most part, the Ravens just took it right at the Steelers.
Henry ran seven times on the drive, Jackson ran five, including a 20-yard scramble, and tight end Mark Andrews bulled forward for a 3-yard run on a direct snap on third-and-1. Henry capped the drive with an 8-yard score in which he ran over Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick at the 2-yard line and charged into the end zone for a 14-0 Ravens lead with 4:09 left in the first half.
Center Tyler Linderbaum called the 13-play, all-run drive “a lineman’s dream,” adding, “I have the best job in the world blocking for Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.”
Jackson finished with 81 yards on 15 carries, and he also completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two scores, both of them coming in the first half.
He threaded a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman on the Ravens’ opening drive for a 7-0 lead, and then he capped the Ravens’ dominant first half with some vintage Jackson improvisation.
On second-and-goal from the Steelers’ 5-yard line with 11 seconds left and no timeouts, Jackson appeared to be in danger of taking a sack that would have ended the half. Instead, he wiggled out of trouble and found Justice Hill all alone on the right side of the field for the touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
“In his head, he knows what 11 seconds is,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “The clock was going a little faster for me in my mind. I’m like, ‘Throw that thing away!’ And he threw it. It was a touchdown. It’s like all you can say is ‘Wow.'”
That marked the first halftime lead for Jackson in seven career playoff games. The Steelers threatened to make a game of it when Wilson (20-29, 270 yards) threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson midway through the third quarter that cut the Ravens’ lead to 21-7.
But four plays later, Henry took that handoff from Jackson and blew through the middle of the defense, outrunning a half-dozen Steelers for his second score.
“At 260 pounds, outrunning DBs? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” tight end Isaiah Likely said.
Here are five quick impressions of the win, the Ravens’ second in a row against Pittsburgh in their five postseason meetings:
1. This is why the Ravens signed Derrick Henry.
Lamar Jackson is the most dynamic running quarterback of all time. Couple him with one of the most powerful running backs of all time, and the Ravens boast a multi-pronged attack that, barring their own miscues, is almost indefensible.
When Eric DeCosta signed Henry this past offseason — he initially tried to trade for him midseason last year — he surely had visions of him doing exactly this: Taking control of a game in the postseason against a defense that simply couldn’t match his combination of speed and physicality and probably would get discouraged even trying after getting repeatedly pounded by him in cold, playoff weather.
But Henry is only half of the equation. No team can completely key on Henry because of the singular threat of Jackson. It’s one reason that Henry enjoyed the best per-carry average of his career this season (5.9) at age 30.
The threat of Jackson keeping left — and Jackson’s ability to sell it that way — opened the lane for Henry’s 44-yard touchdown run in this game. Earlier in the game, offensive coordinator Todd Monken dipped into his bag of tricks and had Henry take a direct snap, with Jackson coming from the left for what looked like a sweep. Except Henry kept the ball, and with some defenders committed to pursuing Jackson, Henry shot off left tackle for 34 yards to set up the Ravens’ first score.
The Ravens have had excellent running backs in Jackson’s seven-year career, but they have never had a duo like Jackson and Henry.
2. Lamar Jackson was in command from the start.
Jackson’s past playoff struggles — a 2-4 record as the starting quarterback, including 1-3 at home — have been well documented. He said earlier this week that at times in the past, he has been too “antsy” on the playoff stage.
He also said he felt his experience has led him to be more settled, and he was composed and in command from the start against the Steelers.
The Ravens had to start their opening drive at their own 5-yard line after punt returner Steven Sims muffed a punt. Jackson made a second-down throw to tight end Isaiah Likely for 9 yards and ran on five straight plays as the Ravens steadily moved upfield.
During three long scoring drives in the first half, Jackson appeared to be in complete control. He finished the first half 13-for-15 passing and ran 11 times for 64 yards. More important, he didn’t turn the ball over, which has been one of his major playoff flaws.
Jackson said that he was so “locked in” this week that he didn’t even want to talk to his mother, but he never looked tense or tight. As he carved up the Steelers for the second time in four weeks, those playoff struggles appeared long, long ago.
“He is very much in control,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s probably a great way to say it. He has a great handle on the gameplan, but when the play starts, he’s just seeing things. … He’s just seeing the field really well.”
3. The defense also dominated with physicality.
The Ravens’ physical domination of the Steelers’ defense is the headline, but the Ravens’ defense also manhandled the Steelers’ offense for most of the game.
Safety Ar’Darius Washington, all of 180 pounds, was involved in a lot of it. The safety — whose midseason insertion in the starting lineup was a turning point for the defense — stood up 250-pound tight end Pat Freiermuth and kept him short of the first down on one early third-down play. That was one of several physical hits by Washington, who finished with a team-high seven tackles.
The Steelers’ running backs could go nowhere. They totaled 29 yards on 11 carries and at one point, Nnamdi Madubuike picked up Najee Harris and just threw him down like a doll. Travis Jones and Michael Pierce stuffed running lanes and overpowered a Steelers line that was missing starting guard Mason McCormick.
Madubuike recorded two of the Ravens’ four sacks, and the Ravens had seven quarterback hits. Odafe Oweh had a sack and three of those hits.
This rivalry is known for physical toughness, and in this game, the Ravens were far tougher, on both sides of the ball, and at all three levels of the defense.
“In the locker room, we were just talking about on defense, ‘Start fast. Start really fast. Pummel them early,'” Madubuike said. “And I feel like that’s what we did in the first half, and the second half was just about finishing.”
4. The Steelers’ touchdowns did expose some legitimate concerns.
Russell Wilson kept the Steelers in the game with a couple of second-half touchdown passes, with one of them capping a 95-yard drive. Wilson found Van Jefferson for a 30-yard score against Brandon Stephens — after he hit Mike Williams down the left sideline for 37 yards.
Later, Wilson connected with George Pickens down the right sideline. Pickens got a step on Nate Wiggins, caught the pass and cut inside Ar’Darius Washington for a 36-yard score that cut the Ravens’ lead to 28-14 with 3:24 left in the third quarter.
Wilson and the Steelers hardly have the league’s most formidable passing game. The Steelers ranked 27th in the league in passing offense, but Wilson went 20-for-29 for 270 yards.
Head coach John Harbaugh tipped his cap to Wilson for making some strong throws, but he also said, “They found the weakness in the coverage, and we didn’t play it quite perfectly. We have to chase perfection and play those things a little better.”
That begs the question: What happens when the opposing quarterback is Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes?
They surely will see on tape the way Wilson had success down the sideline against Ravens cornerbacks. The Ravens’ defense has been remarkably improved in the second half of the season, but defending the deep ball remains a lingering concern.
5. The Ravens are Denver Broncos fans now.
With this win behind them, the Ravens can relax and watch the AFC wild-card round game Sunday between the second-seeded Buffalo Bills and the seventh-seeded Denver Broncos.
If the Bills win, then the Ravens will travel to Buffalo for a divisional round game next weekend. That would surely draw national interest with the two presumptive favorites for the league’s MVP award — Lamar Jackson and Bills quarterback Josh Allen — going against each other.
But if the Broncos upset the Bills, then the Ravens will host the fourth-seeded Houston Texans next weekend. (The Broncos, as the lowest remaining seed, would go to top-seeded Kansas City.)
“I can always root for a home game,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It bears noting our fans tonight were unbelievable. … If that happens and they get an opportunity to do it again, that’d be great. If not, we’ll go to Buffalo, and we’ll be ready to play.”
Quarterback Lamar Jackson was more noncommittal:
“I don’t root for [anybody]. … It doesn’t matter. We’ve been on the road all season. We’re ready. I believe our guys are ready, but it starts Monday.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox