Taken from the gradebook of a teacher who is tired of seeing students fail final exams, here is the Pittsburgh Steelers Report Card for the 2024 Playoff Loss to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.
Lamar Jackson throws a touchdown to Justin Hill. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
Quarterback
Russell Wilson was 20 of 29 for 270 yards two touchdowns, no interceptions and no fumbles. He was however sacked 4 times. What stands out more than his numbers was his leadership. The Steelers easily could have folded, but Wilson led them on two touchdown drives and kinda-sorta made a go of it in the 2nd half. Justin Fields threw one incompletion. Grade: C
Running Backs
Najee Harris ran for 17 yards on 6 carries and caught 3 passes for 41 yards. Jaylen Warren ran for 6 yards on 2 carries an caught 4 passes for 19 yards. The Steelers needed more from their running backs. A lot more. Grade: F
Tight Ends
Pat Freiermuth dropped the game’s first pass and failed to convert a third down twice when the Steelers needed it. Darnell Washington had one catch for 9 yards on 3 targets. The Steelers needed more from their tight ends. Grade: F
Wide Receivers
Led the unit with 5 catches for 87 yards, but his PI penalty was brutal. Calvin Austin had one impressive catch for 25 yards. Mike Williams had a catch for 37 yards and Van Jefferson had 2 for 37 including a touchdown. Grade: C-
Offensive Line
Russell Wilson was sacked 4 times – yes some of those were coverage sacks, but line needed to give him more time. The sample size for their rushing effort is pretty spare, but clearly the line wasn’t pushing Ravens defenders off the ball. Grade: F
Defensive Line
The Ravens had 299 yards rushing. Grade: F
Linebackers
Alex Highsmith can say he sacked Lamar Jackson in the playoffs. It was the only time he was touched all night. Not sure if one of the other LB’s was supposed to be spying Jackson. If he was, he didn’t do his job. Derrick Henry had 186 yards rushing. Grade: F
Secondary
Lmarr Jackson “Only” threw for 21 passes. He completed all but 5 of those. 2 were touchdowns. And he was missing his number one wide receiver. Grade: F
Special Teams
Chris Boswell made all of his kicks preventing any returns – not easy to do on a cold Baltimore night. Steelers punt return coverage was strong. And their return game was respectable. Grade: C
Coaching
Credit Arthur Smith for one thing: His offense may have gone down in flames, but at least he didn’t go down in flames trying to “pound” the rock against a brick wall.
Nonetheless, his offense was completely ineffective until thee second half. And, when Steelers had a shot at making a it a one score game with more than a quarter to go, he could protect his quarterback and they couldn’t convert.
I suppose in some form or fashion the idea of yielding some rushing yards to Lamar Jackson to selling out to stop Derrick Henry made sense. But for it work, the Teryl Austin’s defense had to stop Henry. The defense did 5 tackles for losses (not all against Henry).
- But when it wasn’t doing that, Henry was running at will.
In hindsight, perhaps some day we’ll look back and say that Mike Tomlin deserves to be credited for managing a 10-7 season with this roster, the way Chuck Noll should have been credited with his playoff appearances of the early 80s.
Cam Heyward was a bright stop for the Steelers. Photo Credit: Karl Roser, Steelers.com
But that day is not today, and Mike Tomlin now has 5 one and done playoff appearances since his last win. Grade: F
Unsung Hero Award
IF there is one player who clearly carried his weight, shook of injury and authored a winning performance with 2 tackles for losses and 10 tackles total, it is Cam Heyward and for that he wins the Unsung Hero Award for the Steelers 2024 playoff loss to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.
