Derrick Henry’s first season with the Ravens was a smashing success and the fun continued in his playoff debut for the team.
Henry ran 26 times for 186 yards and the Ravens piled up 299 rushing yards in a convincing 28-14 win over the Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium. The win moves them on to the divisional round of the playoffs, but they’ll need to wait until Sunday to find out if they are heading to Buffalo or hosting the Texans next weekend.
The Ravens will likely be brimming with confidence against either opponent. Saturday night’s win was their fifth in a row and it was the closest final score of those games. Their offense is firing on all cylinders as Lamar Jackson was 16-of-21 for 175 yards and two touchdowns while also running 14 times for 82 yards to complement Henry’s efforts in the win.
A signature moment for the Ravens came in the second quarter when they ran on 13 straight plays to pick up 85 yards and a Henry touchdown. Henry’s second score came on a 44-yard run shortly after the Steelers cut Baltimore’s lead to 14 points in the third quarter and both drives illustrated just how much the Ravens dominated the Steelers at the point of attack.
It was the second time during that winning streak that the Ravens have knocked off the Steelers and Pittsburgh’s season ends with a five-game losing streak that makes it hard to feel good about the immediate future of the franchise. While they showed some life after trailing 21-0 at halftime, the Steelers offense was missing in action far too often in the second half of the season and their defense couldn’t get stops when they needed them on Saturday.
The loss means that the Steelers have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season and there will be questions about what they need to change in order for that to change. Quarterback is an obvious spot that needs to be addressed as Russell Wilson’s intermittent success throwing deep isn’t enough to build around and it was clear that the team didn’t think Justin Fields had anything to offer them as their season went down the drain.
There are also likely to be questions about Mike Tomlin, but the Steelers have not fired a head coach in a very long time so that may not be a particularly likely development. The team is in a rut, though, and finding a way out of it will probably be the prime focus of the offseason in Pittsburgh.
With Henry, Jackson and a defense that’s kept improving over the second half of the season, the Ravens don’t have any reason to think about next season. Their recent performances make them look like a serious Super Bowl contender and they’ll have a chance to keep making their case next weekend.
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