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It wasn't pretty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers held on to a gritty win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11. The victory gives the Steelers a 1.5-game lead in the AFC North. On a short week with another divisional opponent upcoming, ESPN's Brooke Pryor asked Russell Wilson how long he will celebrate the Steelers' win before moving forward mentally to prepare for Thursday night's matchup against the Cleveland Browns.
“We don’t have 24 hours. We have about two hours.”
Wilson tried to keep it light when fielding questions with the press.
“We’ve got, what, a two-game lead, right?” Wilson asked.
“One and a half,” a reporter responded.
“Eh, that’s two, round up,” joked Wilson.
Wilson didn't make the box score pop against Baltimore. He completed 23-of-36 passes for 205 yards with an interception. The Steelers only converted 4-of-16 third downs and averaged just 4.1 yards per play. Pittsburgh also came up with no touchdowns in four trips to the red zone. By most measurements, the Ravens should have had this game won.
The difference in the game was likely turnovers and penalties. The Ravens lost two fumbles and threw an interception, giving the Steelers the +2 edge in turnover margin. Baltimore also committed 12 penalties for 80 yards.
Steelers control their playoff destiny, for now
While Pittsburgh leads the division, they still have five games remaining on their schedule against the AFC North. They face Cleveland twice in the next three weeks and have two games left against Cincinnati. The Ravens are on the schedule again in Week 16. The other two non-divisional games left on the schedule? The Steelers travel to Philadelphia to face the Eagles in Week 15 and host the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas for Week 17.
A big shift in the momentum against the Ravens was when linebacker Payton Wilson intercepted Lamar Jackson with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. On the resulting drive, Pittsburgh scored a field goal, increasing their lead to 18-10 and draining the clock to 3:35 left in the game.
By the time the Ravens got the ball back and scored a touchdown, they were forced to go for two with just 1:06 remaining.
The two-point play was a bust, and the play call was unclear in real-time. After the game, Jackson clarified that the call was a designed quarterback run. The Steelers' defense swarmed on it, leaving the Ravens signal-caller no room or margin for error. He flipped a pass forward while being dragged to the ground. The two-point attempt failed spectacularly, allowing Pittsburgh to run out the clock to seal the win, 18-16.
The Steelers are now the No. 2 seed in the AFC, depending upon the result of the Chiefs-Bills game. Should Buffalo win, the Bills would be the No. 2 seed at 9-2.
