Kirk Herbstreit issued a scathing indictment of the Steelers’ effort to start their wild-card round loss to the Ravens on Saturday, as Baltimore jumped out to an early two-touchdown lead and Pittsburgh — again — struggled to generate any sort of offensive rhythm in response.
“It’s one thing to lose X-Os against a really talented offense,” Herbstreit said on the Amazon Prime broadcast with just over four minutes remaining in the first half, “but where the hell is the fight? This is the Pittsburgh Steelers. There’s nothing. They’re just going through the motions.”
The same issues that plagued the Steelers to close the regular season, when they lost four consecutive games and five of their last seven, carried over into their opening postseason matchup, when the Ravens outgained them 464-280 in total yards and 299-29 on the ground.
Derrick Henry ran through defenders and collected 186 yards and two rushing touchdowns, and the Steelers — after falling behind 21-0 late in the second quarter — didn’t manage any points until Russell Wilson hit Van Jefferson for a 30-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
“If I were a Steelers fan, the thing that would concern me watching this first half, you’re in the postseason,” Herbstreit said during the second quarter. “You’re getting dominated. I don’t see any fight. I don’t see any pushback.”
At one point, after the Pittsburgh defense finally forced Lamar Jackson and the Ravens to punt, the Steelers had a chance to trim their deficit to one possession, but the offense stalled.
They punted the ball back to Baltimore.
And with the clock continuing to drain in the fourth quarter, that all but sealed their postseason exit.
“They were the better group today,” head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters postgame, according to the Associated Press. “The X factor was Lamar’s unique talents. It seems like every time we got him behind the sticks, he made up for it.”
Wilson, who snagged the starting job from Justin Fields after missing the first six games with an injury, completed 20 of 29 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns, but an offense that struggled during the regular season by averaging 22.4 points per game and the 10th-fewest yards per game (319.4) in the NFL couldn’t hit either of those marks once the playoffs arrived against a stout Baltimore unit.
After advancing, the Ravens will either travel to Orchard Park to face the Bills — if Buffalo, the No. 2 seed, defeats the No. 7 seed Broncos on Sunday — or host the No. 4 seed Texans in the divisional round next weekend.
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