Eight minutes into Saturday’s wild-card playoff game, the Steelers knew they were in for a long night. Derrick Henry took a direct snap, broke a tackle and delivered a right-hook stiff-arm to the jaw of Minkah Fitzpatrick.
“My boy, Minkah,” Henry told Kaylee Hartung after the game on the Prime Video broadcast. “‘Bama boy. He knows, off the field it’s all love. On the field, it’s business.”
Business as usual was Saturday’s theme for Baltimore. In a 28-14 win, the Ravens gashed the Steelers for 299 rushing yards, including 186 on 26 carries and two touchdowns from Henry. Baltimore (13-5) now potentially gets a divisional-round showdown between MVP front-runners Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen next week, should Buffalo beat Denver on Sunday.
Henry joined Hall of Famer Terrell Davis as the only players in NFL history with four career postseason games of 150 rushing yards. The unstoppable back also exploded for a 44-yard touchdown through the heart of Pittsburgh’s defense midway through the third quarter. Jackson added 81 yards on 15 carries and also passed for two touchdowns.
Most of the Ravens’ damage came in the first half. Bullying the Steelers all night, Baltimore engineered an 85-yard drive that consumed nearly eight minutes of the second quarter and consisted of nothing but runs – 13 of them. It finished with a 9-yard Henry touchdown as Baltimore jumped out a 21-0 halftime lead. In the first half, the Ravens recorded more first downs (19) than the Steelers had plays (18).
In quite possibly his last game for the Steelers (10-8), Russell Wilson fought back in the second half, throwing a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes to Van Jefferson and George Pickens. But Baltimore was too much. First-year coordinator Zach Orr has sculpted the NFL’s best defense since the Ravens’ Week 14 bye and his unit provided play after play on Saturday.
The Steelers, who were 10-3 on Dec. 14, finished the season with five straight losses. They’ve now lost six consecutive playoff games and return to Pittsburgh with growing questions regarding the future of head coach Mike Tomlin.
For more information on the Ravens and Steelers, visit the Baltimore and Pittsburgh team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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