Steelers at Ravens score, takeaways: Pittsburgh keeps playoff hopes alive with a win in stormy Baltimore

Pittsburgh is one step closer to the postseason

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one step closer to reaching the playoffs. Mike Tomlin's team was able to roll into a stormy Baltimore and pull out a 17-10 victory that keeps their chances of securing one of the final wild-card spots alive. 

Overall, it was a slog for both of these AFC North Rivals given the damp weather in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium. It also made for tough sledding for all ballcarriers with both teams fumbling the football twice in this contest. The first half was largely quiet for these offenses outside a respective touchdown drive for each to go into the break tied at seven apiece. Even as they came out to start the third, there were five straight punts before the most pivotal moment of the matchup occurred. 

On the first play of the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-4 situation from their own 29-yard line, Mason Rudolph threw a dart over the middle of the field to Diontae Johnson, who took the ball 71 yards to the house to go up 14-7. Given the elements, it was the back-breaking score for Baltimore, who couldn't truly sniff a comeback. After Gus Edwards fumbled just outside seven minutes remaining in regulation, the Steelers added to their lead to go up by two scores and effectively left the Ravens in the dust. 

Of course, Baltimore was resting most of its starters in this game with the No. 1 seed already intact, but this was a monumental win for Pittsburgh. With this win intact, they'll look for either a Bills loss, a Jaguars loss or tie, or the Texans and Colts to tie. If any of those happen, they're in.

Rudolph finished his night 18-of-20 for 152 yards and a touchdown. Diontae Johnson caught four of his five targets for 89 yards and that key fourth quarter score. Najee Harris rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. Meanwhile, Tyler Huntley was 15-of-28 for 146 yards and a touchdown. 

Also in this game, Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt was ruled out in the second half after suffering a knee injury. Per NFL Media, the Defensive Player of the Year candidate is believed to have suffered a Grade 3 MCL sprain. Before going down, he tallied two sacks and eight tackles.

For more on how this game unfolded, check out our takeaways below. 

Why the Steelers won

On a night where the weather drastically impacted what these teams could do offensively, the Steelers were able to make just a few more plays on that side of the ball. They were able to get the scoring started with a 76-yard touchdown drive that ended with a Najee Harris touchdown and then the Johnson 71-yard score in the fourth quarter was all they'd end up needing to ensure the win. In particular, Harris was a key cog for the offense as it leaned primarily on the ground game. He was one of the few ballcarriers not to fumble and had 26 carries out of the backfield for 112 yards and a touchdown. His ability to keep the chains moving certainly helped the offense clew clock in the second half. Defensively, the pass rush feasted on Huntley as it constantly kept him on the move and was able to sack him four times. It was really a shutdown effort in the second half where they forced four punts and a fumble on five of the final six drives. 

Why the Ravens lost

Baltimore didn't exactly give a legit punch in this game as John Harbaugh opted to rest starters like Lamar Jackson and others. While they were able to hang close, there wasn't much burst within the offense, as expected. Tyler Huntly had just five passing yards for the game up until the 10:15 mark of the second quarter and the unit only averaged 3.9 yards per play for the game. They momentarily got into a rhythm before the half with Isaiah Likely scoring their lone touchdown of the game, but the offense went silent after that. And the inexperience with backups in the game showed with a delay of game penalty on the very first play of the second half. Of course, the turnovers proved to be critical, particularly Gus Edwards coughing up the football late in the fourth quarter that effectively eliminated their comeback hopes (more on that below).

Turning point

Dionate Johnson's 71-yard touchdown is the true turning point in this game, but we'll feature that a bit more below. In this second, we'll look at an underrated moment that helped Pittsburgh ensure the victory. After the offense went three-and-out, the Ravens offense got the ball back with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation at their 20-yard line. On just the second play of that possession, however, Gus Edwards fumbled the football as Eric Rowe was able to punch the ball free. Pittsburgh recovered and took possession deep in Baltimore territory. 

While the Steelers offense wasn't able to cash in with a touchdown, they chewed 4:01 off of the clock, forced the Ravens to use all three of their timeouts, and netted a 25-yard field goal to go up by two scores. That was a gut-punching turn of events for Baltimore, which left them no realistic shot at making a late comeback, despite the last-second field goal on the ensuing drive.

Play of the game

Both of these offenses were pretty stagnant for the first three quarters. They each managed a sole touchdown drive, but beyond that were either punting or fumbling. That was until the very first play of the fourth quarter when Mason Rudolph was faced with a third-and-4 situation from the Pittsburgh 29-yard line. It was at that moment that he had his best throw of the day, which was a seed over the middle to Diontae Johnson, who took it 71 yards to the house to break the seven-all score. 

This angle in particular shows Rudolph hitting Johnson in stride and threading the needle in between multiple Ravens defenders. 

That was the longest touchdown reception of Johnson's career and gave the Steelers the lead for the rest of the game. 

What's next

As we noted above, Pittsburgh now needs one of the following to happen: a Bills loss to the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday, a Jaguars loss to the Titans in Tennessee on Sunday, or if the Texans-Colts game on Saturday ends in a tie. If any of those situations occur, they reach the playoffs. Meanwhile, Baltimore is already locked into the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so they will now enjoy the break and await whoever is the lowest remaining seed to come out of the wild card round. 

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This hurry-up offense is working well for Baltimore, but it's going to come too little too late. 

 
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Oh man. Tyler Huntley had Kolar WIDE OPEN on that third-and-1 play. I thought he saw him, but opted for Hill instead. 

 
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Overall solid stop by the Ravens defense, albeit with the Steelers still kicking a field goal to increase their lead to 10. 

 
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And the weather continues to be a factor, this time to the detriment of the Ravens. Gus Edwards fumbles the football, which gives Pittsburgh the ball at the Baltimore 31-yard line. 

 
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Just about the last thing this Steelers offense needs right now. A three-and-out that kept this a one-score game and they chewed just 2:22 off of the clock. 

 
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Najee Harris is the first player with 1,000+ rushing yards in each of his first three seasons since Alfred Morris (2012-14).

 
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All three of Mason Rudolph's touchdown passes this season have been 60+ yards. He threw an 86 and 66-yard touchdowns to Picks in Week 16 against the Bengals and now this 71-yard throw to Johnson. 

 
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That is the longest receiving touchdown of Johnson's career and the longest play this Ravens defense has allowed all year. 

 
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What a way to start the fourth quarter!!! Diontae Johnson goes 71 yards to the house on a third down throw from Rudolph to take the lead. What a DART from Rudolph! 

 
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J.J. Watt reacts. 

 
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T.J. Watt is OUT for the game with a knee injury ... 

 
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And we enter the fourth quarter with this game still knotted at seven apiece. Pittsburgh -- who has their playoff hopes on the line -- will face a third-and-4 from their 29-yard line to start the final quarter.

 
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ESPN cameras showed T.J. Watt walking to the locker room after initially being examined in the blue medical tent on the sideline. He was walking under his own power, but did have a noticeable limp.

 
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Here's the play that led to Watt's injury. 

 
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Watt was able to walk off the field with the help of a Steelers training staff member and is now being looked at in the blue medical tent. 

 
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Watt was jumping in the air to try and bat down the pass from Huntley and as he came down got tangled up with a Steelers teammate and seemed to go down awkwardly. Brutal development on what was shaping up to be a dominant night for the Pittsburgh pass rusher.  

 
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Oh no. T.J. Watt is injured and down on the field after that 16-yard gain by Agholor. 

 
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Weather is obviously a factor, but it doesn't seem like the Steelers are all too interested in trying to push the ball down the field. George Pickens has been a non-factor. 

 
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T.J. Watt becomes the fourth player since 1982 (when sacks were first officially recorded) with 19+ sacks in multiple seasons. He joins his brother J.J. Watt (2012, 2014) along with Demarcus Ware (2008, 2011) and Mark Gastineau (1983, 1984).

 
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Another sack for T.J. Watt to add to his league lead. If he maintains this, he could become the first player in NFL history to lead the league in sacks in three different seasons.

 
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Another near fumble by Pittsburgh. They've fumbled twice and punted twice over their last four drives. Need a spark soon. 

 
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ICYMI -- A savvy play from the first half by Pittsburgh. 

 
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Not the most inspired start to the half for Huntley and the Ravens. 

 
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T.J. Watt now has 18 sacks on the season, which makes him the current league leader.

 
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A delay of game penalty on the first play of the second half? Yikes. 

 
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Looks like Clowney is pretty happy hitting his $750K incentive. 

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