In the end, the Baltimore Ravens didn’t flinch playing catch-up for their many sins of the past three months en route to clinching a playoff berth for the sixth time in seven years. And when the Pittsburgh Steelers finally arrived in time for Santa Claus – and with Jack Frost nipping at their noses – they finished the fight on Saturday afternoon as Derrick Henry delivered a pre-holiday feast by running over anything in black and gold in an impressive 34-17 win.
The week was already short – and about to get shorter with Houston looming at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday (or what many of us call Christmas Day) – and the Ravens vanquished their AFC North nemesis, who’ve owned the recent results and came to Baltimore looking to close out the division in the frosty cold.
Lamar Jackson wasn’t going to let that happen. As he said in the post-game, it was an “all-phases of the game” win for a team whose five losses credibly lent a sneaking doubt to its Super Bowl candidacy. Even now, with a real shot at winning the division and hosting a playoff game next month (perhaps against the Men of Mike Tomlin again), we see signs that a mostly healthy team is rounding into the January form necessary to put together a run into Buffalo and Kansas City to raise some hell to begin 2025.
Running the ball. Tackling. Not allowing big plays. Making kicks. Falling on your own fumbles. Eliminating penalties and mistakes. (Well, that’s still a work in progress.)
As Lamar said in the postgame: “We’re moving in the right direction…”
Derrick Henry said the emphasis all week was to “finish” against the Steelers and he looked the part of 15 rounds. His whopping December day: 24 rushes for 162 yards, including a 44-yard untouched bulldozer and not including two more catches for 27 yards, plays where he actually gets more inertia to lay out defenders. He’s probably more dangerous catching the ball than just running out of the set. He looked fresh, spry, beastly – like a guy who hasn’t played in a Super Bowl and wants to change that narrative on his way Canton.
The Ravens talked all week about being locked in, and in the end, they were.
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Marlon Humphrey locked in on Russell Wilson and stepped in on MyCole Pruitt while Odafe Oweh was leaning on the Steelers’ quarterback and at a pivotal moment in the contest – in the season, really – amended the sin of Jackson’ hideous goal line holiday gift to Minkah Fitzpatrick and made a game-changing play with the Pick Six.
Creating turnovers. And even landing on your own fumbles. It all matters this time of year. Turnovers turn over games. The Steelers made too many mistakes. Russell Wilson fumbled early and got picked late.
Ballgame.
And the “Marlo” kick save of the Lamar horror lemon to Fitzpatrick, relieved an MVP candidate who has been almost impeccable with ball security. But, as Jackson said, that could’ve been the one that lost the game. This time, it wasn’t.
It was a high-stakes Pittsburgh at Baltimore backyard brawl that lived up to the hype. This was a game of huge plays, big hits and turnovers that defined the outcome.
Najee Harris ran hard. Henry ran harder, now up to 92 “forced missed tackles” and counting. (I just learned about that stat, too!) As the original “We need King Henry!” guy the past two years on the radio at WNST-AM 1570 in many conversations with Luke Jones, No. 22 is starting to look as good as anyone who has ever played the game. He’s more of a “Jim Brown type” than anyone I’ve seen in my lifetime, if you’re really looking for a “comp” and that’s absurd praise. Bigger and angrier than Jamal Lewis is saying something. And I’m an Earl Campbell guy!
The purple stars shined on a holiday Saturday night. The 4th down miss and Kyle Hamilton breakup. Kyle Van Noy had three sacks. Odafe Oweh was in on pressure. Ar’Darius Washington made the play of the game – until five other “plays of the game” came along.
8Zay Flowers logged 100 yards. Mark Andrews with big catches, including another touchdown. And Rashod Bateman caught one and so did Isaiah Likely. Even Justin Tucker is making all of his kicks again.
And while the Steelers injuries mounted all day – and missing George Pickens and DeShaun Elliott were a big deal before kickoff – it was the jarring moments that Justice Hill laid lifeless on the grass that made us all wince. (For the record, I got up and walked away for two minutes and thought about that kid. I was stunned he was walking when I came back into the room. I have a certain sense of PTSD after the Damar Hamlin incident.)
For the Ravens, the gruesome offensive line penalties were still there – and that really needs to get cleaned up but with Lamar and King Henry they have overcome their self-inflicted crimes many times this season.
But the defense also got the job done to continue to balance out the Ravens’ operation. Van Noy had a huge game. Zach Orr got to dial up some pressure on Wilson. And the back side holding its holiday water is a tribute to how special Humphrey is and how improved the whole defense is since Kyle Hamilton moved off the line to “quarterback” the operation, allowing Roquan Smith more latitude and vision.
It wasn’t a thoroughly decisive 17-point beatdown of the Steelers – the game felt a heckuva lot closer than that – but the Ravens left a large bruise that will travel the next two weeks as the two teams are now tied and have to keep winning. For Pittsburgh, that means the early game at home against the all-world Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas day while the Ravens go to Houston and need to beat the Texans for an egg-nog night cap.
Tom Brady called the Ravens “a sleeping giant.” I am not sure about that – they won 15 games last year and hosting the AFC Championship Game. But they have climbed to 10-5 and will still have to go uphill and on the road in January. But, first things first: win the division if you can, and the Ravens are certainly in a realistic position to make that happen.
Merry Christmas!
8Oh, that’s right, they’ll play again in Houston before you eat Christmas dinner. We’ll see how merry it is around 8 p.m. on Wednesday night.
Because we all know how important the fans, families and player safety are to the National Football League. The Grinch was green but so is your money.
Love your loved ones as much as you love your football team this week.
