PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Steelers move into first place in the AFC North, tied with the Ravens following the 17-10 victory on Sunday. Mike Tomlin said it’s good to go into the bye week on top of the North considering what they’ve gone through in just five games.
Here are some other notes from the game Sunday
Warren fire
After Miles Killebrew provided the spark with the blocked punt, Jaylen Warren kept the fire going with his hard runs. On a third-and-eight, he took a pass in the flat and went 23 yards. Then ran 10, hard yards leaping over a Ravens defender.
“I saw him, it was one-on-one, it was really just him to beat,” Warren said. “It was one of those situations where you have to do whatever it takes to beat him. Instinct 100%.”
Warren followed up that run, next play, a spinning run for 16 yards powering through the Ravens defense.
“Massive,” Kenny Pickett called his contributions. “Plays unbelievably hard. Very Talented play, want to get the ball to him in space as much as we can whether the run game or pass. I feel like he does great things in both areas. Obviously came in together as rookies, and in our second year here, but love him and proud of him.”
About the pads
Tomlin took a lot of flack for saying Tuesday they needed to increase their physicality and that was a reason they struggled against Houston. He went to full pads during practice on Wednesday and he believes what you saw on Sunday was a result of that.
“They made a commitment throughout the week, the prep, the things that we talked about leading up to the week that we had to do better in preparation,” Tomlin said. “I felt that. I felt an earnest effort in that regard. And there’s football justice.”
Highsmith strip
Another AFC North matchup, another huge strip sack by Alex Highsmith.
This one came with 1:12 left in the game and Baltimore trailing by four at their 44-yard-line. Highsmith got around the end and knocked the ball out of Lamar Jackson’s arm before he was able to move it forward.
“I take pride in my game and just always want to get the ball out,” Highsmith said. “I saw he had his arm extended. I just reached for it. That’s just what it is, it’s a culture here. We like to get the ball out. I think we had a couple of balls out today. We just need to keep doing that.”
TJ Watt picked it up, he wasn’t able to score as he did against the Browns, but set up the field goal to make it a seven-point lead.
Harbaugh what?
Up 10-3 and in firm control of the game, the Ravens faced a fourth-and-two from the Steelers 23-yard-line with 19 seconds left. Instead of an automatic field goal from arguably the best kicker in NFL history, John Harbaugh went for it and Jackson threw an incompletion. Ravens miss out on three key points in this game and then Harbaugh explained it.
“We were planning on kicking the field goal there,” Harbaugh said, which would have put the Ravens up five points with four minutes to play. “The idea was to run the clock down and not leave them time to come the other way and then just call a timeout and kick the field goal. But we had just a miscommunication (in the heat) of the battle. We weren’t on the same page.”
“They jumped the neutral zone, and guys thought they were in the neutral zone and went ahead and snapped it. So that wasn’t what we were planning on doing.”
Harbaugh said Jackson was surprised by the snap and they thought they would get a free play. The Steelers weren’t offsides and that pick likely changed the outcome of the game.
Tidbits
· Mike Tomlin is now 12-2 in games following a loss of 20+ points
· Steelers now lead Ravens series 34-25
· Only the Steelers and Kansas City have beaten Lamar Jackson three times in his career
· Steelers have 122 takeaways since 2019, most in the NFL
· Two-fer-Watt had two tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, two passes defensed and one fumble recovery
Jones 1st
Due to the injury to Dan Moore, Junior, first-round pick Broderick Jones made his first NFL start at left tackle Sunday.
“I feel like I’m getting there, slowly but surely,” Jones said. “Still little fine details and things you can work on, but at the end of the day, I feel like I’m getting better every day.”
Even with the bye week, it’s questionable whether Moore would be healthy enough to return on October 22 at the Rams.