BALTIMORE — It happened again. For the fifth consecutive trip to the postseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense was eviscerated on Saturday, as the Baltimore Ravens gashed the highest-paid defense in the land for 465 yards in a 28-14 domination of their AFC North rivals at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday.
With both Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson torching the Pittsburgh defense on the ground, the Steelers gave up the most rushing yards in team history in a playoff game. Henry set the all-time record for a back running against a Pittsburgh defense with 186 yards on 26 carries. Jackson added 81 yards on 15 rushes.
The Ravens took an early lead with a Jackson to Rashod Bateman touchdown pass in the first quarter, but after that, it was all running game.
Baltimore got the ball with 12:05 to play in the second quarter and rattled off a 13-play, 85-yard drive that was made up entirely of running plays. The big play on that drive was a 20-yard run from Jackson through the heart of the Steelers defense. Henry found pay dirt with an 8-yard strike.
The Ravens scored again in a two-minute drill drive that saw Jackson hit Justice Hill for a short score.
While the Steelers was getting gashed, the offense barley showed up in the first half. The Steelers gained just 59 yards on 18 plays in the entire first 30 minutes, gaining just two first downs.
They finally arrived in the second half, with Russell Wilson getting the Steelers on board with a long touchdown pass to Van Jefferson.
The next drive? More of the same. The Steelers got the Ravens to 2nd and 20 after a sack of Jackson, but he connected with Tylan Wallace for 21 yards, former Steelers wide receiver Steven Sims ran for 15 and then Henry broke the Steelers’ backs with a 44-yard score.
The defense struggles in the postseason have been something of a recent theme for the Steelers. In their last six playoff games — all losses — they’ve now allowed 36, 45, 48, 42, 31 and 28XXX points.
For the NFL’s highest-paid unit, led by a pair of probable Hall of Famers in Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt, the results haven’t been good enough. Watt was held without a sack for the fourth straight playoff game. He didn’t record a single statistic against the Ravens.
The Steelers pushed forward on offense late, adding a Wilson to Pickens touchdown to at least make a game of it, but a 4th and 15 attempt from Wilson to Calvin Austin III in triple coverage fell incomplete to functionally seal the game.
The Ravens will advance to the Divisional Round, where they will either play the Buffalo Bills or the Houston Texans, pending the results of Sunday’s Wild Card game between the Bills and Denver Broncos.
The Steelers will see their season end without a playoff victory for the eighth straight season. They’ve gone 0-5 in postseason games in that stretch.
Aaron Becker contributed reporting from Baltimore.