The whole situation screamed run. The Ravens did exactly that.
Down to their third-string quarterback and nursing a two-point lead, the Ravens took the ball out of Anthony Brown's hands and went to running back Gus Edwards on three straight totes.
"I think everybody knew that," Mike Tomlin said on expecting the run given the situation.
And yet, Edwards came through on third down. The Steelers bit on the man in motion, Devin Duvernay, who was in position to run a sweep, and Edwards went right up the middle for the first down.
And if you think everyone knew what was coming, well, Cam Heyward said the Steelers expected it.
"That's the head-scratcher," Heyward said. "Everything play is downhill. You should know where it's going at that point. To not get off the field [and] just give our offense one more chance, that stings the most."
"I just thought we wore down," Tomlin said. "The pile was falling forward."
It was a puzzling result for a defense that, to this point of the season, had ranked as one of the best in the league against the run. Entering the game they averaged just 4.1 yards an attempt, ranking fifth in the league. But with Lamar Jackson out and backup Tyler Huntley knocked out in the third quarter, the Ravens leaned even more heavily on the run than they normal do, picking up 215 yards on 42 attempts (5.1 yards a carry).
Those 42 rush attempts were the most the Steelers had faced since Week 15 against the Titans last season. But this was expected, especially when Huntley is in the mix.
"They do a great job of using the quarterback and making you have to defend them," Teryl Austin said Thursday. "It makes it tough. A lot of times, if you have a quarterback that can't move, you might see some exotic defenses and some different fronts and all that other stuff. But you’d better be pretty straightforward against this, because if they catch you out, the guy can hit you for a long gain."
What ended up happening is Huntley was mostly neutralized -- 31 yards on nine carries -- but the running backs had plenty of holes to go through up the middle.
Those three to end the game -- and the nine they attempted on a 13-play, 7:55 drive their possession beforehand that resulted in a dagger field goal -- told the tale. The Steelers successfully predicted the run but could not stop it.
"I've got to go back and look at the fits," Myles Jack said. "It always just seems like... there's a hole that's right there. Somebody squirts out. We've just got to see how we're fitting up the run."
It doesn't take that big a hole for some of these Baltimore runnings backs to jump out, like this 44-yarder for J.K. Dobbins, who was activated off injured reserve Saturday and ran for 120 yards on 15 carries Sunday:
That set up Dobbins to punch it in from four yards away for the Ravens' only touchdown of the game.
"They run a good offense," T.J. Watt said. "We just need to do a better job of being assignment-sound and making plays when it matters the most."
And with the loss, the 5-8 Steelers' playoff hopes may have been extinguished because the best performing part of their defense couldn't stop their rival.
"Got to watch the film, learn from it and go next week," Watt said.
