BALTIMORE — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday pretty much boiled down to two plays, both of which were Russell Wilson mishaps.
The first snafu came in the second quarter when Wilson fumbled on the Ravens’ 4-yard line. The Ravens capitalized off the turnover with a eight-play, 96-yard drive that got capped with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson to Rashod Bateman to give Baltimore a 14-7 lead.
“I thought I had a chance to get in the end zone, and I cut back and got hit. Right before I hit the ground, the ball came out. It’s unacceptable. It can’t happen,” Wilson said after the game. I was cutting off a block and I didn’t want to slide there, either. I wanted to get into the end zone and go for it.”
The Steelers battled back after facing a 17-7 deficit, tying the game at 17-17 with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter. The Ravens answered with a touchdown drive and appeared to have all the momentum after a fourth-and-6 stop, but Minkah Fitzpatrick picked off an ill-advised pass by Jackson and returned it 25 yards to the 33-yard line.
The turning point of the game happened two plays later, as Humphrey picked off Wilson and scampered down the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown to enhance the Ravens lead to 31-17 with 13:06 remaining.
“I think it definitely changed the game when they got that interception,” Wilson said. “I thought the defense did a good job of getting the ball back, and I was trying to throw it to [MyCole] Pruitt. It was front number and the ball just stayed inside, unfortunately, and they made a play.”
Wilson said his two negative plays lost the game for the Steelers.
“They made two plays on us that were significant plays. Unfortunately, I can’t let that happen,” Wilson said.
“Like I said, I put that game on me. Two great opportunities there, obviously, going into the end zone. I was going for it. … The interception was just a difficult play for us. The one thing I’m not going to do is keep my head down. I know for us, we have so much confidence in how we’re going to respond.”