absolute control.
On Saturday, the Baltimore Ravens completely defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers looked incoherent and confused en route to a 28-14 loss.
Ravens? It looks like they can head to the Super Bowl with such a dominant performance.
Numbers don’t lie. Baltimore dominated the Steelers with 464 yards of total offense, 299 of which were rushing yards. Running back Derrick Henry led the Ravens with 186 yards.
“I don’t see any contest. I don’t see any rebound,” analyst Kirk Herbstreit said during the game. Nothing. They’re just going through the motions. ”
“Where the hell is the fight?! This is the Pittsburgh Steelers! There’s nothing! They’re just going through the motions!” – Kirk Herbstreit ?????????️ #NFL pic.twitter.com/MTfWosRwqj
— Terrible Announcement (@awfulpayment) January 12, 2025
The game was almost over shortly after the Ravens drove Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson onto the field and took an early 7-0 lead.
“Pittsburgh hasn’t looked like the team that once led the AFC North in a while, and those hoping it would wake up got some bad news early Saturday night,” Nick said. – Shuuk wrote on NFL.com. “Baltimore methodically scored two touchdowns on a 13-play scoring drive while shutting down the Steelers’ offense, but the Steelers’ body language was even worse.”
By halftime, it was 21-0 and the Ravens had 308 yards of offense.
“The Ravens ran as fast as they could from the ball. 24 of the first 32 plays were runs,” wrote Kyle Phoenix of Baltimore’s SB Nation. “Their second touchdown drive was 13 runs. This win was an iconic performance.”
Lamar Jackson, 30 minutes against Steelers
13/15 passing, 144 yards, 2 TDs, 146.2 QBR
11 rushes, 64 yards, 5.8 YPC— Baltimore Beatdown (@BmoreBeatdown) January 12, 2025
Henry proved to be a great free agent signing with the Ravens. The Ravens signed Henry to a two-year contract worth up to $16 million last year after he left the Tennessee Titans.
SI.com’s Noah Struckbein said, “Derrick Henry has been worth every penny this offseason, with 186 yards and two touchdowns on the ground against the Steelers defense in the season opener. We showed the NFL something.” “This was his third playoff game with 175 or more rushing yards, making him the fifth player in NFL history to record 800 rushing yards in the first eight games of a playoff appearance.”
The Ravens look invincible right now.
No one knows where the Steelers go from here. Pittsburgh was 10-3 this season, but lost its last five games, including Saturday night. Coach Mike Tomlin has two years left on his contract. will he come back?
“Pittsburgh is good enough to make the playoffs for years, but it’s nowhere near competitive in the postseason,” writes Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports. “The Ravens weren’t really tested and it happened again on Saturday night. The Steelers finished the season without leading a game for the first time since Dec. 8. They started 10-3. But it completely collapsed.”
What’s next for Pittsburgh?
“The difficult question is why does a team that wins 10 games feel like a team that needs to rebuild in some ways?”
Ben Schmitt is a TribLive associate editor specializing in Pittsburgh and online news coverage. Before becoming editor in 2018, she worked as a reporter for more than 20 years in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Georgia and New Hampshire. He can be reached at bschmitt@triblive.com.
