The Pittsburgh Steelers had been 17-10 winners over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night to conclude a 10-7 common season and stay within the playoff hunt because the NFL heads into the ultimate day of its common season on Sunday. Listed here are three takeaways from their win.
1. The Steelers did their half. Now they must hope.
A very powerful factor for the Steelers on Saturday was what they may management – their very own sport.
Given every part they’d on the road and the actual fact the Ravens had been taking part in a fraction of their starters having already clinched home-field benefit, a bye week and the No. 1 seed within the AFC, there ought to have been an affordable expectation that the Steelers would get the win.
It was not all the time fairly and a nonstop rain storm actually performed havoc on the play on the sphere, however the Steelers had been capable of just do sufficient to get the win and attain 10 victories for the primary time because the 2020 season.
Now they must hope. There are three doable outcomes that would clinch them a playoff spot. They want both the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts to tie on Saturday night time, the Jacksonville Jaguars to lose to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon or the Buffalo Payments to lose to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night time. If any a type of three outcomes occur, the Steelers are in.
The Steelers have no one however themselves in charge for this place. They misplaced head-to-head video games (and the tiebreakers) to each Houston and Indianapolis and went by means of a four-day stretch in early December wherein they misplaced back-to-back house video games to two-win Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots squads.
2. T.J. Watt’s damage is a significant concern
If the Steelers do occur to get in, they aren’t prone to have exterior linebacker T.J. Watt. He reportedly suffered an MCL sprain in the win and needed to depart the sport late within the third quarter. That can possible sideline him for a number of weeks.
Watt recorded two sacks earlier than leaving the sport, giving him a league-leading 19 for the season and making him simply the fourth participant in league historical past – since sacks grew to become an official league begin in the course of the 1982 season – to file no less than two 19-sack seasons.
Not having Watt can be a major subject for the Steelers, particularly with their different accidents on protection. Since Watt entered the NFL at the beginning of the 2017 season the Steelers are simply 1-10 when he doesn’t play and 70-33-2 when he does (with Saturday’s win added in to that complete).
The Steelers are already taking part in with out their high two center linebackers (Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander) and a number of other of their high safeties (Minkah Fitzpatrick, Keanu Neal and the suspended Damontae Kazee). Fitzpatrick mentioned after Saturday’s sport he’ll play within the postseason if the Steelers get in.
3. Mason Rudolph was not nice however he did sufficient
After main the Steelers to their first two 30-point offensive showings of the season over the previous two weeks, Mason Rudolph was not fairly as impactful on Saturday. Although the climate virtually actually performed a task in that. He threw for simply 152 yards (with 71 of them approaching one play) and fumbled thrice, dropping one in all them. He did, nonetheless, full the passes he ought to have (18-of-20) and did join on an enormous 71-yard landing go with Diontae Johnson for the game-winning landing, which snapped a 7-7 tie within the fourth quarter.
