Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same. At least when it comes to the Steelers facing the Baltimore Ravens.
The 2024 regular season opened for the Steelers in Atlanta on Sept. 8, and against the Falcons the game was won by a perfect placekicker and a defense that was occasionally dynamic but in control throughout.
At the time, that was thought to be their reality, because they had a new coordinator trying to install an offense operating with the backup quarterback taking snaps from the rookie center, who was the hub of an offensive line trying to build continuity while weathering injuries at both guard spots, plus the loss of a No. 1 pick who was supposed to start, and a second-year right tackle who had been wearing a hinged elbow brace since early in training camp.
And let's not forget that the 1-2 punch at running back had been halved because of a hamstring injury, and the wide receiver corps looked to be exactly one player deep.
There you go. Outside of fantasizing about a trade for a top-of-the-depth-chart receiver and counting the days, or weeks as it turned out, for the "proven veteran" quarterback's calf injury to heal, that looked to be their plight. Rely on their defense and hope the offense didn't turn the ball over so the kicker could get onto the field as often as possible because their scoring was going to come in increments of 3 rather than 6.
Then Russell Wilson healed and Coach Mike Tomlin made the move, and the clouds parted. Wilson turned into being every bit the proven veteran quarterback the Steelers had been lacking, and his ability to combine pre-snap reads with NFL-caliber anticipation and accuracy gave George Pickens more opportunities to be consistently dynamic and he took advantage of several. Then some of the other eligibles reaped the rewards of proven veteran quarterbacking, and the offense produced 9 touchdowns in Wilson's first three starts.
It was easy to get victimized by hope. So this is how the other half lives, those NFL teams with an offense that wasn't allergic to flirting with 30 points, with a quarterback who threw multiple touchdown passes, and in the same game, too.
But then the Ravens turned up on the schedule.
Same purple. Same coach. Same winning percentage. Same run defense. But this secondary was a sieve. That's what the numbers indicated – 32nd in the NFL in passing yards allowed, 24th in interception percentage, 25th in points per game. This flock of Ravens won with offense. Historically productive offense.
Lamar Jackson came to town as the odds-on favorite to become a third-time MVP and had some interesting numbers supporting his case. He had thrown 9 touchdown passes from outside the pocket, and that was No. 1 in the league. His passer rating was 123 when he was outside the pocket. And if he got outside the pocket and a lane opened up he could turn into one of the most elusive running backs in football.
To pair with Jackson, this offense had a 6-foot-3, 250-pound package of speed and power at running back in Derrick Henry who was No. 1 in the NFL in yards from scrimmage and touchdowns. He had runs of 87, 81, 51, 39, 39, and 38 yards. Again, 6-3, 250. This offense had risen to No. 1 in the NFL in points per game by being football's nitroglycerin – if not handled with extreme care, it would blow up in your face.
Add up all of the offensive evolution in Pittsburgh and the pyrotechnics in Baltimore, and on Sunday inside Acrisure Stadium what was presented to the 67,551 paying customers was typical Steelers-Ravens. Eight punts, 9 field goal attempts and only 2 touchdowns, 28.6 percent on possession downs. A game where field position was significant because moving the ball is a slog and ending every possession with some type of kick was a worthwhile goal. Physical. Chippy to the point of two separate sets of offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct fouls.
There is a lot of history to this series, with Sunday's 18-16 Steelers win being the 59th game matching these teams and the 36th pitting these coaches. For perspective, the only coaches in NFL history who had faced each other more than the Mike Tomlin-John Harbaugh pairing was Chicago's George Halas vs. Green Bay's Curly Lambeau, and those guys had helped found and establish the league back in the 1920s.
Steelers vs. Ravens is different than any other game on either team's schedules, but the games when they face each other all end up looking the same. For the Steelers that began with their approach to dealing with an offense that had Lamar Jackson as the triggerman.
"We did what we always do, to be quite honest with you. You better play hard, fast, and together when you play this group and when you play Mr. Jackson," said Tomlin when asked about his defensive plan. "His talents are unique. Their schematics are unique. Forget the minutia of what it is you do. You better play hard, fast, and together or you have no shot. We always start there."
In the run-up to this installment, Tomlin had said "The education component of it is big in terms of just understanding and appreciating your involvement in it. And I think that's one of the fun things of the week, educating the new and young Steelers about the rich history of this rivalry."
One of the students was rookie inside linebacker Payton Wilson, whose interception midway through the fourth quarter of a game with the Steelers holding a 15-10 lead cost the Ravens at least a field goal.
"We were talking all week, (Payton) and I, about his matchup with No. 43 (Justice Hill). Payton is a pass situation linebacker. No. 43 is a pass situation runner. Payton is a young guy, so we knew that they were going to go at him. He needed to be prepared. We worked him all week in terms of that matchup. That rail route that he picked off, the screen game that's associated with it, Payton did a nice job preparing himself and not blinking and communicating in game and understanding the urgency of that matchup. I think that's why he was successful. I think you create your fortune sometimes when you are locked in, and he was locked in, very cognizant of the challenge, and rose up to meet it."
Joey Porter Jr. had intercepted Lamar Jackson in the end zone as a rookie in 2024, and in his third career game in this series he blew up the 2-point conversion attempt that if successful would've tied the game, 18-18, with 66 seconds remaining. And Porter did it by coming hard and fast at Lamar Jackson after he had been flushed from the pocket to his left.
Patrick Queen led the team in tackles and forced and recovered a fumble late in the second quarter that led to a 32-yard field goal by Boswell to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 9-7 halftime lead. Old hands, such as T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick understood what had to be done to win a game in this series and contributed in their own way toward the outcome.
Speaking of the outcome, the win gave the Steelers a 1.5-game lead atop the AFC North Division and the No. 3 seed in the AFC, but there are 7 games to go in this regular season, including a rematch vs. these Ravens, with the outcome of that one determining the site should a third installment come in the playoffs.
There is much still to be done before the Steelers see the Ravens again, and at the top of their list will be figuring out how to have Boswell end up kicking more PATs than field goals. Do that, while continuing to win to keep the Ravens in the rearview, and the Steelers will have an opportunity in the Dec,. 21 rematch in Baltimore to position themselves to meet the challenge of winning some playoff games.
Sounds a lot easier than it will end up being, but that's just life with everything having to do with Steelers-Ravens. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
