Impressive effort, but Steelers still not playoff team
There’s no doubt the Pittsburgh Steelers should be admired for their effort in pulling out a crucial 27-22 victory over the Ravens in Baltimore Sunday.
Credit to the players for sucking it up, showing their mettle and playing with a passion that they haven’t shown consistently this season.
But let’s not go overboard.
Tomlin is great at galvanizing the troops at crucial times but the bottom line is the Steelers were one play away – such as a couple 50-50 officiating calls that went in their favor – from their admirable performance going for naught.
They got the win but are you really ready to crown them AFC North champs at this point?
The Steelers just don’t look like a playoff team, even in a weaker-than-expected division.
The main concern about Pittsburgh is they’re well below average on offense and defense in the most fundamental phase of the game: running the football.
The Steelers ran the ball 17 times for a whopping 34 yards, exactly two yards a carry, against the Ravens. Their leading rushing was Kenneth Gainwell with 15 yards.
That’s a laughable rushing attack.
Baltimore, on the other hand, ran the ball 40 times for 217 yards, which is 5.4 yards a carry.
Tomlin’s crew has gotten away with those lopsided numbers more than once this year. That’s not a sustainable formula for success, though.
The Steelers also, as always under Tomlin, have trouble putting games away when the opportunity presents itself.
While Aaron Rodgers had a solid game, the Steelers offense got the ball three times in the fourth quarter and went three-and-out each time, unable to muster even a single first down when just one may have been enough to prevent needing a sack by Alex Highsmith on the final play to preserve the victory.
Nine plays for a total of three yards. The three drives took a combined 4:19 off the clock. That’s not the way to close out a game.
The Steelers have a Monday Night Football game coming up against the Miami Dolphins, not a great team but one that’s been rejuvenated by a four-game winning streak that leaves them at 6-7, while Pittsburgh sits at just 7-6.
The early betting line has the Steelers as a three-point favorite so the oddsmakers aren’t convinced they’ll breeze past Miami.
A win over the Dolphins is just as crucial as the victory in Baltimore because after that are road games in Detroit and Cleveland before a home rematch with the Ravens.
The Lions are superior to the Steelers. A win there is very unlikely. Cleveland? Don’t look past Pittsburgh’s longtime rival. The only game left on the Browns’ schedule they care about is on Dec. 28 at Huntington Bank Field.
And if the Steelers enter the final week of the season needing to beat the Ravens again, this time at Acrisure Stadium, I don’t like their odds in that rematch. Baltimore is still the most talented team in the division and Lamar Jackson likely will be much healthier at that point than he was Sunday.
So, yeah, it was nice Steelers fans got to see a spirited effort in a huge victory over a hated rival on Sunday.
Will that set them on a path into the postseason?
The feeling here is, no, it won’t. Pittsburgh just has too many flaws, including one of the worst coaching staffs in the NFL serving under Tomlin, to overcome.
The Ravens will still pull out the division title.
You can bet, however, given their recent playoff resume, the rest of the AFC contenders are hoping it’s somehow the Steelers who get to the postseason.
Rob Burchianti is sports editor of the Herald-Standard and can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com