It’s never simple with these Steelers. The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to win boring, defensive slugfest with a late score as Kenny Pickett drove his side down the field in and into the endzone in under a minute to keep their small playoff hopes alive.
Mike Tomlin must have some sort of magic ward or charm as even though his team should be competing for the 1st overall pick with the talent assembled, he’s got them in a potential win-and-your-in situation in the last game of the season.
It’s tough to remember now, but the Pittsburgh Steelers were at one point one of the worst teams in the league and heading towards disaster. Having started off the season with a 2-6 record, suffered through numerous injuries to key players, and starting a rookie, undeveloped quarterback under center, it looked like a sure thing that Tomlin was about to suffer his first losing season in 16 years.
However, through one of the most remarkable turnarounds of a season I’ve ever seen, Tomlin has gotten this disjointed, young, raw, and inexperienced Pittsburgh Steelers roster to play like the Steelers of Tomlin’s early days and go on a 6-2 winning span and set up a Week 18 showdown versus the Cleveland Browns to potentially make the 7th and final Wild Card spot.
It’s honestly incredible how good of a coach Mike Tomlin is.
Sure, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, and Sean McVay get most of the credit as the best coaches in football today (and for good reason), but the work Mike Tomlin has done with these sub-par Steelers teams is nothing short of a miracle.
He got a decrepit, broken-down Ben Roethlisberger to the playoffs with a 9-7-1 record last year, and now he’s about to have another winning season (9-8 record if they win) with a raw, rookie quarterback and another guy who literally can’t throw the ball under center.
You saw with McVay and the Rams injuries this season, Belichick with Cam Newton two years ago, and Andy Reid with an ageing and post-controversy Michael Vick in 2012 that any great coach can have a horrible season if his team just doesn’t have the talent or is severely injured. But not Mike Tomlin.
He’s the only head coach to coach for 15+ seasons and not have suffered at least 1 career losing season in NFL history. The man is the epitome of greatness and deserves a bust in Canton, Ohio when he finally calls it quits…which probably won’t be for a long time as he’s only 50 years old. Yup, he started coaching when he was just 35 all the way back in 2007.
Anyway, moving on to the game, these stats about Mike Tomlin are probably the most exciting thing you’ll read about that game last night. It was another awful, defensive slugfest Ravens vs. Steelers affair, but that’s why we all love this rivalry so much.
Even when both teams are suffering though injuries and on-field hardships, they always find a way to equal each other out and fight tooth and nail for a vital inter-region, inter-divisional win. And this game was no different.
Both defenses were the stars of the show as neither team was able to gain 400+ yards of offense (Steelers: 351, Ravens: 240), while the passing games of the two offenses were some of the worst schemes seen all year with Kenny Pickett and Tyler Huntley COMBINING for 298 passing yards and 2 TDs.
Just for comparison, Patrick Mahomes had 328 yards and 3 TDs by himself in the Chiefs close win 27-24 win over the Denver Broncos. Obviously, we won’t be confusing Pickett nor Huntley for the great Mahomes any time soon.
Now, I won’t be too harsh on either QB as Kenny Pickett (15/27, 168 yards, 1 TD) is still an unrefined rookie, and Tyler Huntley (14/21, 130 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) is only the Ravens backup quarterback thrust into the limelight with Lamar Jackson’s injury still plaguing him.
Back to the defenses, it’s clear to see a fully healthy Steelers defense with T.J. Watt (4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 3 QB hits), Cameron Heyward (4 tackles), Minkah Fitzpatrick (9 tackles, 1 PD, 1 INT), Terrell Edmunds (6 tackles, 1 PD), Levi Wallace (3 tackles), etc. and a healthy Ravens defense with Roquan Smith (9 tackles, 1 PD), Marcus Williams (9 tackles, 1 PD), Chuck Clark (10 tackles, 2 PD), Patrick Queen (6 tackles, 1 QB hit), and Justin Houston (1 tackle, 2 QB hits) are two of the very best units in football.
If it wasn’t for the injuries and growing pains both of these teams suffered, they both would have secured 11+ wins and playoff spots prior to last night’s game. Alas, that was not to be as the quarterback issues both teams have suffered have derailed their, respective, preseason expectations.
But, thankfully, the quarterback play didn’t have to be sensational for either team to win as the Steelers and Ravens running games both had 120+ yards of total offense.
Najee Harris had his very best game in a Steelers uniform last night as he embodied the spirit of the late, great Franco Harris to rush for a season high 111 yards on 22 carries, while also catching the game-winning TD with just seconds to go on the clock (but more on that later).
Reversely, J.K. Dobbins had a fantastic night for Baltimore as he carried the offense with 17 CAR and 93 yards, setting up Justin Tucker to make his 2 field goals and Huntley’s only TD.
However, I don’t know what made Harris go off like that, but it was a good thing to see. He’s been getting a lot of criticism for his low rushing stats lately, and I’m glad he finally got that elusive 100+ yard game marker off his belt yesterday.
As for the game-winning drive, I think I know why the Steelers were so high up on Kenny Pickett.
For a second straight week, the former University of Pittsburgh QB lead the Steelers 80+ yards down the field, bled the clock dry to not give the opposing team a chance to respond, made some huge, clutch throws with numerous defenders in his face and in cold weather, and threw a last-minute, picture-perfect TD pass to win the game.
Like I said, he’s still a very raw talent as he needs to learn and develop the fundamentals of the NFL game into his own game, but he definitely has the QB “It” factor that makes franchise players.
For example, on that final TD throw to Najee Harris, Pickett had the presence of mind to roll out of a collapsing pocket, shake off a Super Bowl champion pass rusher in Jason Pierre-Paul (2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 QB hit), and then complete a pass just over All-Pro LB Roquan Smith’s head to score a game-winning touchdown.
You just don’t see that level of clutch accuracy and pocket presence in players like Mitchell Trubisky (sorry, Mitch, but it’s true).
That’s why Pickett and the Steelers (8-8) now have a chance to beat their archrivals Cleveland Browns to achieve their 16th straight winning season and have a small hope for a third straight year in the playoffs.
As for the Ravens (10-6), this game really didn’t matter too much in the overall standings of the AFC. They’ll either be facing off against the Titans/Jaguars or the third best team out of a mixture of the Chiefs, Bengals, and Bills in the Wild Card round.
If I was the Ravens and HC John Harbaugh, I’d want to lose their last game against the Bengals, hope the Chargers win their final game against the Broncos, and play either the 9-8 Jaguars or the 8-9 Titans in the first round. At least they’ll have one playoff win to their name in that scenario as if they go up against either the Chiefs, Bengals, or Bills, they’ll get utterly smoked.
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