In manhandling Steelers, Ravens show their playoff potential: ‘This is the appetizer’

BALTIMORE — The quarterback who acknowledged earlier in the week that he’s been too amped up in previous playoff games jogged onto the field for the first time in the shadow of his end zone. If Lamar Jackson needed a test of his nerves, this was it.

This was also an early opportunity to show the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the AFC playoff field that this year was going to be different. This wasn’t the same ol’ postseason Ravens, who had a habit of losing their identity and their nerve.

Thirteen plays, including five consecutive Jackson runs, and 95 yards later, the two-time MVP was sprinting toward the Steelers’ end zone to celebrate Rashod Bateman’s 15-yard touchdown reception.

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If their first long touchdown drive was about imposing their will, the rest of the game was about hammering the point home. From Derrick Henry stiff-arming Minkah Fitzpatrick to finish a run to Isaiah Likely discarding Cameron Sutton to Patrick Ricard finishing blocks 10 yards behind the play, the Ravens manhandled the Steelers physically all night. In doing so, they showed the form that makes them a legitimate Super Bowl threat.

“We need to do that each and every time — great preparation, great practicing. Guys just locked in,” said Jackson, who won his third playoff game. “It’s a win-or-go-home mentality, and our guys are just showing that, each and every down.”

A 28-14 victory in the wild-card round over their divisional rival at raucous M&T Bank Stadium Saturday night was barely competitive aside from the third quarter. And it took the Steelers to trail by three touchdowns and get pushed around the field for the first half to actually enter the fight.

“Having 300 yards rushing on you is worse than 300 yards passing,” said Steelers safety DeShon Elliott, a former Raven. “They definitely put a belt to butt today.”

To close the game, the Ravens held the ball for 12:22 of the fourth quarter, fittingly finishing on a six-plus-minute drive with Jackson taking a knee as MVP chants rained down and coach John Harbaugh implored the crowd to get louder from the sideline.

As usual, Jackson and Henry were the catalysts. Jackson completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns and ran 15 times for 81 yards. Henry finished with 186 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. However, it was the team-wide commitment to being physical, controlling the line of scrimmage and making the Steelers earn every yard or tackle that highlighted Baltimore’s most complete playoff performance in several years.

“Whatever adversity you’re faced with, find a way to overcome (it), and they did it with execution, they did it with physicality,” Harbaugh said. “They did it by playing one game at a time, by being poised and just understanding it’s going to be a long game. There’s going to be a lot of plays. Let’s try to put as many good plays together as we could, and they just kind of kept it that simple.”

Now, the Ravens wait to see who their opponent will be. If the second-seeded Buffalo Bills beat the seventh-seeded Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Ravens will face the Bills in Western New York next weekend, while the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs will host the fourth-seeded Houston Texans, who were 32-12 winners over the Los Angeles Chargers Saturday. If the Broncos upset the Bills, the Ravens will host the Texans at M&T Bank Stadium and the Chiefs will get Denver.

Harbaugh said what should be obvious, which is the Ravens always root for a home game this time of year. Otherwise, Baltimore, which has now won five straight games, stayed away from cheerleading.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jackson said. “We’ve been on the road all season. We’re ready.”

On a night where former Ravens Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and Ray Lewis strutted out of the tunnel to loud cheers, the current Ravens authored a vintage performance that the team’s past standouts and former Super Bowl winners could be proud of. That it was against the hated Steelers, who had gotten the better of the Ravens in eight of the previous 10 meetings, only made it sweeter. It hardly mattered that Pittsburgh had lost four straight to head into the postseason and, for much of the evening, looked like a team lacking in juice and motivation.

Offensively, the Ravens owned the line of scrimmage, rushing for 299 yards and two touchdowns, amassing 464 total yards and controlling the ball for nearly 40 minutes. Todd Monken’s offense had five drives of nine plays or more. The Ravens dominated up front enough that Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt didn’t even get his name on the stat sheet. Earlier in the game, Watt and Alex Highsmith consistently crashed inside to confront Henry, while Jackson slipped outside.

“We have the best job in the world. Blocking for Lamar and Derrick Henry. It’s great. I’m proud of these guys, proud of the team, proud of what we were able to accomplish today,” said center Tyler Linderbaum. “That’s a lineman’s dream. Being efficient, moving the ball forward. We want them to get as tired as possible so that when it gets to that third and fourth quarter, we can keep running the ball.”

Defensively, they forced punts on Pittsburgh’s first four possessions and allowed only two first-half first downs and 59 first-half yards. After allowing two Russell Wilson touchdown passes in the third quarter, the Ravens got two fourth-quarter stops to make sure Pittsburgh didn’t get any closer than two scores.

“That’s what it’s about in the playoffs, playing tough, stingy defense,” said Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith. “Obviously, they got a couple plays we would like back, and then, just being able to run the ball. When you can do that, you impose your will on another man, and it’s just like, ‘Hey, I’m doing this. You have to take it,’ and that’s what it was.”

The Steelers knew what was coming, or they at least should have after allowing the Ravens 220 yards rushing when the two teams played three weeks ago. Yet, they couldn’t stop Baltimore. Of the Ravens’ first 32 plays, only eight were Jackson throws.

The epitome of the Ravens’ dominance came on their second-quarter drive that covered 85 yards on 13 plays. The Ravens didn’t pass the ball once on the drive and only faced two third downs (both were third-and-1). Henry culminated the drive by bursting up the middle for an 8-yard score against a Steelers defense that seemingly had little interest in stopping him.

“I just think Lamar was seeing it, and he was doing a great job of seeing it and pulling it and making plays and getting the most out of a play,” said Henry, who led the most productive postseason rushing performance in Ravens franchise history. “Guys did a great job blocking for it to open up.”

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Jackson made accurate throws when needed. He threaded the needle on the 15-yard touchdown pass to a sliding Bateman in the back of the end zone on third-and-13. His 25-yard connection to Likely late in the first quarter was a pretty throw and catch. Jackson’s 5-yard touchdown to running back Justice Hill, which put an exclamation point on Baltimore’s most dominant first half of playoff football probably since Super Bowl XLVII, was more about the quarterback’s improvisational brilliance. Jackson had 11 seconds to work with before halftime and used all but two of them. For a guy who entered the game facing questions about his playoff performances, he was in total control throughout.

Jackson, though, was plenty content to observe, too, and watch his running back do work. On Henry’s 44-yard touchdown late in the third quarter that all but put the game away, Jackson sold that he was going to keep the ball as long as possible. He then started celebrating not long before Henry burst through the line of scrimmage. He sprinted toward the end zone to join him.

It was that kind of night for the Ravens. A team that’s made things look very difficult at times in previous postseasons made it look effortless in dominating their biggest rival.

“You pick your poison,” said Smith. “I have a lot of respect for those guys, and then the O-line. Those guys (are) leading the way, so we’re just getting started. This is the appetizer to what we have on the menu.”

(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)