PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers insist they have no secret formula when it comes to stopping Lamar Jackson. That there is nothing mystical about their approach to the otherworldly Baltimore Ravens quarterback.
They study film. Just like everybody else. They read their cues. Just like everybody else. They fight. Just like everybody else.
And they win. Like just about no one else.
“Forget the minutiae of what it is you do,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “You better play hard, fast and together or you have no shot.”
They almost always do when Jackson is on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
The latest proof came in an 18-16 victory over the Ravens on Sunday that included another 60-minute clinic on slowing down perhaps the most dynamic player in the league.
Pittsburgh (8-2) held Jackson and the rest of the NFL’s top-ranked offense to season lows in points and yards (329) and season highs in mistakes, some self-inflicted, some not.
Baltimore (7-4) turned it over three times — each leading to one of Chris Boswell’s six field goals — and committed 12 penalties while never really establishing the kind of rhythm that comes so easily when they play someone other than the Steelers.
“I can’t call it,” Jackson said after falling to 1-4 against Pittsburgh. “I feel like we (were) making strides in the right direction and then something would happen.”
The two-time MVP completed just 16 of 33 for 207 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He hit Zay Flowers for a 16-yard score with 1:06 left to get the Ravens within two but the 2-point conversion attempt was a mess. Jackson rolled to his left, tried to run then pulled up and threw a prayer to no one in particular that fell incomplete.
The Steelers — with backup quarterback Justin Fields subbing in for Russell Wilson on a couple of snaps — picked up a first down on the ensuing drive as Pittsburgh ran out the clock to give the Steelers a 1 1/2-game lead over Baltimore.
“To come away with a win, it took everybody, not one guy,” Pittsburgh defensive tackle Cam Heyward said. “And we understand how critical these AFC North games are. We understand we got a bit of a gantlet (coming).”
One the Steelers appear to be well-equipped to handle.
The list of contributors to Pittsburgh’s eighth win in its last nine meetings against the Ravens included rookie linebacker Payton Wilson — who literally stole the ball from Baltimore running back Justice Hill for a crucial fourth-quarter pick — and newcomers Patrick Queen and DeShon Elliott, former Ravens who have quickly found their footing on the other side of the rivalry.
Elliott pounced on a Derrick Henry fumble on Baltimore’s first possession and Queen — who left Baltimore in free agency after the Ravens opted not to make him an offer — stripped former teammate Isaiah Likely at the end of the first half and scooped up the loose ball that led to a Boswell field goal and a 9-7 halftime lead the Steelers never relinquished.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Tomlin said of Queen. “I’m glad he is on our team.”
Pittsburgh needed every one of Boswell’s kicks on a day the offense sputtered while largely avoiding the miscues that cost Baltimore so dearly.
Wilson threw for 205 yards and an ill-advised pick in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter. Najee Harris ran for 63 yards — including a 2-yard churn for the clinching first down — and George Pickens caught eight passes for 89 yards.
Even Fields got in on the act. A month after ceding the starting job back to Wilson after Wilson recovered from a calf injury that forced him to miss six games, Fields was behind center for two of the most important snaps of the game, a 9-yard quarterback run on Pittsburgh’s final drive and a handoff to Harris that moved the chains and let the Steelers kill the clock.
“I believe that Justin Fields is a franchise quarterback, a great player, a great teammate, a hard worker,” Wilson said. “We just love doing this thing together.”
The game marked the second time this season Pittsburgh won without reaching the end zone. Boswell also booted six field goals in the opener in Atlanta. He’s the second player in NFL history to make six field goals in a game twice in the same season, joining John Carney, who did it for the San Diego Chargers in 1993.
While Tomlin praised Boswell’s production, he admitted it also “reminds us of our warts. It reminds us of the work we need to do.”
The Steelers will get a chance to examine those warts while in first place, while the Ravens are left to chase them in the interim while waiting for a rematch the weekend before Christmas. Jackson and company are hoping the missteps that have cropped up in their losses this season will be gone by then.
“We can’t keep beating ourselves in these type of games,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to find a way to fix that. That (stuff) is annoying.”
Injuries
Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith left in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return.
Steelers defensive tackle Keeanu Benton was shaken up in the fourth quarter.
Up next
The Ravens head west to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 25.
The Steelers travel to Cleveland to face the Browns on Thursday night.
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