Steelers Get Chunky, Take Control Of The AFC North

I was tempted to try and write some high-falutin’ analysis of the Steelers’ 27-22 win over the Ravens, to extrapolate some extra meaning, to really dig into the details and explain how Mike Tomlin’s team, understandably left for dead after being booed and jeered off their home field a week prior, figured out a way to go on the road and take control of the AFC North.

Here’s the thing, though. The winning formula was not complicated. It featured variables that we don’t often see from both teams, but it was very straightforward. You ready for it? Here goes.

The Steelers hit multiple chunk plays on offense, and Lamar Jackson was less than 100 percent.

That’s it. Really! I’m serious!

The win was an object lesson in how important it is to be able to take yardage in large chunks, particularly for mediocre-to-bad offensive teams like the Steelers. Pittsburgh did not have a running play longer than 7 yards, but what the Steelers did have were five pass plays of at least 20 yards, which is the official definition of an “explosive” pass play.

They had six such plays, total, over their past four games.

Turns out that scoring points is a whole hell of a lot easier when you have plays of 52, 41, 38, 31, and 28 yards on your ledger. In case you were curious, the team scored points on every drive that featured one of those explosives. That’s how you manage to get to 27 points and win a football game on a day where your running backs produced a whopping 34 yards on 17 carries.

Aaron Rodgers and D.K. Metcalf gave the Steelers an Easy Button on offense, and it was enough. I’d love to pretend that there’s some detailed schematic explanation for why certain things worked, but the truth of the matter is that Rodgers got good enough protection and dropped the ball in the bucket. Simple as that. On one big play to Metcalf he did a good job moving around and buying time and waited for the defense to break down.

There was nothing mystical about it, to use one of Tomlin’s favorite expressions. The quarterback he personally recruited to come here, and the receiver the team traded for and then paid more than all but two receivers in the sport played like the guys the Steelers thought they were getting.

The other reason the Steelers won, and maybe the bigger one, if I’m being honest, is that Lamar Jackson is hurt. How much is a matter of debate, and clearly he was healthy enough to play, and occasionally make some plays with his legs, but if you watched that game and thought he was 100 percent, then you’re living in the Twilight Zone.

Jackson did not have his usual burst, and even on his touchdown scamper did not look like the effortless, gliding runner that he is when he’s at his best. He wasn’t really a major threat to pull the ball on zone reads, making Baltimore’s running game more one-dimensional in the process. It was still pretty effective, mind you, since the Ravens ran for 217 yards on 40 carries overall.

Where Jackson’s relative lack of mobility really hurt him and the Ravens was in the passing game, however. He hit three passes of 30 yards or more, but two of them came while the Ravens were trying to play catchup, and none happened in the middle two quarters of the game, when Steelers were building leads of 17-3 and 27-16.

Baltimore’s passing game was inefficient, inconsistent, and routinely hamstrung by its quarterback, who often looked to dump the ball off in semi-panic rather than move around and make plays.

The Steelers do deserve credit for some of this; even when Jackson is healthy they have done a better job than most of reining in his scrambling. They again had a sound game plan for him. But his inability to really make them pay, or instill fear, or practically speaking, make plays that demand extra personnel and attention made a major difference in the outcome.

Baltimore simply didn’t possess its usual fear factor on offense, and Jackson’s still-compromised health was the major reason why.

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One would hope that Tomlin would take note of how the game went - the big plays worked enough to compensate for the complete lack of a running game, and more aggressiveness paid off - and at least make an attempt to replicate that moving forward.

Sure, his team will have tougher challenges than a Ravens defense that is wholly incapable of getting to the quarterback - only the Panthers and 49ers have fewer sacks than Baltimore’s 19 - but letting this offense at least attempt to be great is the only conceivable path forward.

On that front, it was encouraging to see Tomlin acknowledge the key role that big plays played in the win during his Tuesday press conference, but he has to go a step further and encourage that sort of thing to continue. Rodgers played his best game as a Steeler, and part of the reason was that he actually pushed the ball down the field.

He even occasionally looked towards the middle of the field, something he’s been loath to do this season, mostly of his own volition, from my perspective.

In their biggest game of the season to this point, against a hated opponent, in said opponent’s stadium, the Steelers’ offense played, for three quarters, like a team unafraid to try and win. They reverted to form in the fourth quarter, which wasn’t great, but I’ll choose to focus on the positives here.

I have to imagine that the mindset was better in that huddle, and that the team was more prepared to take advantage of Baltimore’s mistakes, like when linebacker Mike Green left Jaylen Warren totally uncovered on the game-winning touchdown.

It was a very modern offensive performance for those first three quarters, one that yielded very impressive results, and delivered a crucial win in the process. The Steelers aren’t winning anyone over just yet - far from it, really - but they are, against all odds, out in front in the beleaguered AFC North.

Let’s hope that everyone involved realizes what got them there, because embracing chunk plays, even hunting for them, is the only chance this team has of flipping what has been a predictable, depressing script this time of year.