When Sunday opened, the Steelers had hopes of making it to the playoffs but those hopes were contingent on beating the Ravens while the Titans lost to the Texans.
The Steelers went 0-for-2 on Sunday. The Titans thrashed the Texans while the Ravens were moving past the Steelers despite playing without Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram and many other frontline players. The 28-10 win leaves the Ravens with a 14-2 record as they move into the playoffs as the top seed in the AFC and they’ll take a 12-game winning streak with them into the postseason.
Watching Pittsburgh’s offense over the last few weeks made it hard to believe they were still alive in the playoff race. The fact that they could muster just 10 points against a Ravens defense missing some big names is the latest illustration of how bad things got with Devlin Hodges at quarterback and they’ll be hoping a healthy Ben Roethlisberger brings better results with him in 2020.
Hodges was 9-of-25 for 95 yards while losing a fumble and taking an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety. The Ravens also scored a touchdown when punter Jordan Berry couldn’t handle a snap and defensive back Jordan Richards recovered it in the end zone.
The Steelers had been hanging around in the first half by limiting the Ravens to field goals, but the fumble led to a touchdown and the sloppiness was too much for Pittsburgh to overcome.
Robert Griffin III was 11-of-20 for 96 yards and ran eight times for 50 yards in his first start since Week 17 of the 2016 season. He’ll be back on the bench when the Ravens return to action in the divisional round.
