The Baltimore Ravens have had more than their fair share of playoff struggles recently, but when their biggest rival came to town, they rose to the occasion.
The Ravens hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in January's Wild Card Round game, marking the first postseason meeting between the two AFC North foes in a decade. Though they split the regular-season series, the Ravens left no doubt as to who the better team was as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead and cruised to a 28-14 victory.
Apparently, it wasn't enough to humiliate their rival on the field. After the game, the Ravens' locker room was reportedly abuzz as players couldn't believe the Steelers' game plan.
“I covered that game,” the Ringer’s Danny Heifitz said on Yahoo’s Fantasy Forecast. "I was in the Ravens’ locker room. The Ravens were making fun of the Steelers’ game plan. Straight up. Not to reporters, but if you heard what they were saying amongst themselves."
Throughout the night, the Steelers were helpless to stop the star-studded duo of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. Henry simply ran all over the Pittsburgh defense, racking up 186 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Jackson, meanwhile, completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns while adding 81 yards on the ground.
On the other hand, the Steelers' offense failed to get going until it was far too late. Pittsburgh ended the first half with just 49 yards of total offense while Baltimore had over 300 yards. Additionally, the Steelers finished with just 29 rushing yards, partially because they stopped running after falling behind by so much, but they also averaged just 2.6 yards per carry.
It was definitely a cathartic moment for the Ravens. Prior to this game and a regular-season win in Baltimore three weeks earlier, the Ravens had lost eight of the past nine games in this storied rivalry. With those two wins, however, they turned the tide back in their favor.
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