Steelers’ Cameron Heyward: “Let us be dangerous. We have a formula that’s working now. Hopefully we can get some guys back. We’re not going to discount ourselves”; Ravens’ Patrick Queen: “We had a chance to send them home, now they have a chance to go to the playoffs. It stings a bit”
Last Updated: 07/01/24 8:32am
Mason Rudolph and the Pittsburgh Steelers remain in playoff contention after beating Baltimore
Mason Rudolph threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Pittsburgh Steelers took a step toward the postseason with a 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
Rudolph led Pittsburgh (10-7) to three straight wins to close the season, and now the Steelers wait. They would make the playoffs if Buffalo loses to Miami, or Jacksonville loses to Tennessee on Sunday.
There was some bad news for the Steelers amid all that hope. TJ Watt – who had two sacks to take sole possession of the NFL lead with 19 – left in the third quarter with a knee injury. Coach Mike Tomlin didn’t have an update on Watt’s status after the game.
The Ravens (13-4) already had the top seed in the AFC locked up, and they held MVP favourite Lamar Jackson out of this game, along with a handful of other key players. Tyler Huntley started at quarterback , and both teams had a hard time moving the ball on a rainy, windy day.
With the score tied at seven, Rudolph found Johnson over the middle for the one big play Pittsburgh needed. After Baltimore’s Gus Edwards lost a fumble, the Steelers kicked a field goal with 3:13 remaining. The Ravens hadn’t trailed by more than seven points all season until then.
Justin Tucker kicked a field goal with 16 seconds left, but Baltimore couldn’t come up with the ensuing onside kick. The Ravens had a six-game winning streak snapped. Rudolph was 18 of 20 for 152 yards, while each team lost two fumbles.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring on a six-yard touchdown run by Najee Harris in the first quarter. The Ravens didn’t manage a first down until the second, but they eventually tied it on a 27-yard scoring pass from Huntley to Isaiah Likely.
The Steelers have won seven of the last eight meetings with Baltimore, all of which were decided by seven points or fewer.
Pittsburgh’s four consecutive wins at M&T Bank Stadium are the most by a visiting team since the Steelers themselves won five straight from 1998-2002.
What they said…
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said: “Let us be dangerous. We have a formula that’s working right now. Hopefully we can get some guys back in the fold. We’re not going to discount ourselves. We know we’ve got work to do, and looking forward to it.”
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen said: “We had a chance to send them home, now they have a chance to go to the playoffs. It stings a little bit, but we have a lot of pages in our book that set us up pretty good. Nobody’s hanging their head or anything. If we see those guys again, we’ll be ready.”