The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers have been heading in different directions over the past month. The Ravens, champions of the AFC North, have been blowing teams out over the past four weeks. Their average margin of victory was 23 points per game over that span, with the closest of those four being a 34-17 win over Pittsburgh on Dec. 21, in which the Ravens took control of the division on their way to a wild-card round home game. Lamar Jackson turned in an historic regular season, becoming the first quarterback in league history to throw 40 or more touchdown passes with four or fewer interceptions and the first player to throw for 4,000 yards while rushing for 800 yards, all on his way to becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher at the quarterback position.
The Steelers, meanwhile, are limping into the playoffs, having lost four in a row — including double-digit losses to both the Chiefs and Eagles, in addition to the blowout loss in Baltimore — and scoring just 14.3 points per game in those losses. To say the Steelers’ pass offense is struggling might be an understatement. They haven’t topped 200 passing yards since Dec. 1 and have been under 165 passing yards in four of their last five games to finish the year.
The Steelers won the first matchup between these teams 18-16 back in Week 11 in Pittsburgh before the Ravens got their win in Week 16 in Baltimore.
How to watch Steelers vs. Ravens AFC wild-card game
Time: 8 p.m. ET Location: M&T Bank Stadium | Baltimore Streaming: Amazon Prime Video
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Steelers starting LT Dan Moore Jr. sustained an ankle injury and is questionable to return, the team announced. He’s not on the field to start the second half.
In the first half: -The longest offensive play for the Steelers was 9 yards. -The longest rush for the Steelers was 5 yards. -Russell Wilson’s longest pass attempt on a play that counted was thrown 5 air yards.
Lamar Jackson: 13-of-15 for 144 passing yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions or sacks taken, 64 rushing yards. He has a 146.2 passer rating
Derrick Henry: 100 rushing yards on 13 carries, one touchdown
Russell Wilson: 7-of-9 for 44 yards
Steelers running backs: 18 rushing yards on five carries
HALFTIME: Some stats from Ravens’ 21-0 bludgeoning
Total yards: 308 to 59
First downs: 19 to 2
Yards per play: 7.5 to 3.3
Big stiff arms 2 to 0
Time of possession: 20:27 to 9:33
Oh, and the Ravens get the ball back after halftime because Pittsburgh opted to take the ball to open the game. This has been a complete embarrassment for the Steelers and they’ve provided zero reason to expect otherwise in the second half
TOUCHDOWN: Ravens 21, Steelers 0
Lamar Jackson scrambles and finds Justice Hill with plenty of space around him. The Ravens will enter their locker room up three touchdowns. The Steelers have had absolutely zero answers for them on offense and defense.
One more Lamar Jackson pass to Isaiah Likely and the Ravens are on the Steelers’ doorstep. Jackson spikes it with 11 seconds left at the Pittsburgh 5.
Lamar Jackson finds Mark Andrews on a 19-yard pass to push the Ravens into field goal range. Could be a three-score deficit at halftime.
Nope, Lamar Jackson hits Rashod Bateman on a slant. And now the Ravens are at midfield with 42 seconds left after a running throw to Nelson Agholor.
Steelers take a timeout on 3rd-and-3 with 1:08 left. A stop and they get one more chance to prevent this half from being a total disaster.
Not even the broadcast booth (streaming booth?) understands what the Steelers are doing.
“Where the hell is the fight?! This is the Pittsburgh Steelers! There’s nothing! They’re just going through the motions!” – Kirk Herbstreit 🏈🎙️ #NFLpic.twitter.com/MTfWosRwqj
Pat Freiermuth gets stopped with plenty of yards to go and it will be another Steelers punt as we hit the two-minute warning. The Ravens have two timeouts left to make this game even more one-sided entering halftime (Baltimore gets the ball back to open the second half too).
The Steelers get their first play of the game with a deep pass to George Pickens… but it’s called back because Pickens pushed off Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey. 3rd-and-18 coming up.
Ar’darius Washington is the most underrated player on this Baltimore Ravens defense. He is a big factor in this turnaround since week 11.
The Ravens are leading the time of possession 18:36 to 7:15 so far. They have also outgained the Steelers 218-36 with a 14-1 disparity in first downs. This game has been slow, but it has not been close.
TOUCHDOWN: Derrick Henry punches it in to put Ravens up 14-0
The Ravens are firing on all cylinders right now. They ran 13 plays on that drive and ran the ball all 13 times.
Lamar Jackson hit the ground hard on a nice run and was grimacing when he got up. He’s still in and running, though.
Ravens are utilizing their running game much more than last year
Ravens already have more rushing attempts (17) with 8:45 left in the 2nd quarter, than they had in the entire AFC Championship game loss last year to the Chiefs (16).
Ravens and Steelers open the second quarter with a pair of punts — with Pittsburgh opting to punt despite being down and at fourth-and-inches. Things are snoozing a bit so far…will both teams wake up before halftime?
Ravens 7, Steelers 0 at the end of the first quarter
It’s been a pretty one-sided game so far, but Baltimore is still only one score ahead. We’ll see if they get another at the start of the second quarter.
Isaiah Likely stretches to bring in a big pass from Lamar Jackson
Russell Wilson sacked again
It’s three-and-out for Pittsburgh, after Russell Wilson is sacked on first down and is unable to get things going from there. Michael Pierce got there for the Ravens to get the big defensive play.
Just your casual stiff arm to the face of Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Lamar Jackson connects with Rashod Bateman for a touchdown
The Ravens score first, picking up a touchdown on their first drive. Lamar Jackson throws a beautiful pass down the middle to Rashod Bateman, who holds on to get Baltimore on the board.
Back-to-back big runs for Derrick Henry
RB Derrick Henry gets Baltimore across the midline with two huge carries in a row, picking up a 12-yard run and a 34-yard run back-to-back.
Lamar Jackson goes for a run a gets a first down
Lamar Jackson gets five straight rushes for a total of 22 yards, with the QB picking up a first down and throwing for another. Who needs a running back when you have Lamar?
Ravens have been shaky all season on punt return. Steven Sims bobbles that one, picks it up, but is tackled at the 5. That’s where Lamar Jackson will start.
On third-and-six, Russell Wilson did his best to move the ball for Pittsburgh, but Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy took him to the turf. Steelers are forced to punt their first possession after failing to cross midfield.
Steelers and Ravens face off for the third time this season — here’s how the other meetings went
Baltimore and Pittsburgh have met many times before, but the AFC North rivals are about to meet for the third time this year. Prior to today, the two have had two memorable meetings so far this season.
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