With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ postseason hopes dangling by a thread, Mike Tomlin knows his defense can’t have another performance against Baltimore like it did three weeks ago.
In Week 14, the Steelers allowed the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens to gobble up 215 rushing yards on 42 attempts in a 16-14 loss. Pittsburgh gave up 120 yards to J.K. Dobbins on 15 carries, including a 44-yard gallop that set up the Ravens’ only touchdown early in the first quarter.
Since getting run over by their division rivals, the Steelers’ run defense has played better, allowing only 79 yards on 35 carries, an average of 2.3 yards per attempt, in wins against the rumbling Carolina Panthers and Josh Jacobs and the Las Vegas Raiders.
“I don’t know that was a fork in the road, if you will, for our run defense,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “More than anything, I thought we had a bad day. I think our run defense has been really solid over the second half of the year. It wasn’t reflected in our play that day. There’s nothing we can do about that. That tape’s in the can.”
The Steelers have allowed 105.6 rushing YPG in 2022 (sixth in NFL) but have been better since their Week 9 bye, allowing 91.6 yards per game over the last seven contests — including the Ravens’ big day.
Tomlin believes that just because the Ravens ran well against his D a few weeks ago doesn’t mean they’ll repeat the performance Sunday.
“I’ve been in this league long enough to know that you can roll two teams out in back-to-back days and the game can unfold differently,” Tomlin said. “Although we did play them a couple of weeks ago and there are some things to be gleaned from that, I don’t think either party is hanging their hat on how that transpired or that component of it.”
Sitting at 7-8, Pittsburgh needs a win Sunday night plus help to make a last-ditch postseason bid — a Miami win over New England on Sunday eliminates the Steelers. Tomlin is also battling to get over the .500 mark for the 16th straight season, adding to his record of non-losing seasons by a head coach to start his career.