BALTIMORE — Safety DeShon Elliott did not mince phrases after the Steelers‘ 28-14 AFC wild-card loss to the Ravens on Saturday evening.
Despite being with the group for just one season, Elliott was clear in his frustration with the Steelers’ cycle of futility: a regular-season file above .500 adopted by a one-and-done playoff stint.
“I do know that previously we have performed properly to start with of the season, after which we simply s— the mattress on the finish, and similar s— occurred this 12 months,” Elliott mentioned after the Steelers’ sixth straight playoff loss. “Closed the season out on a five-game shedding streak, together with the playoffs. So we obtained to determine what’s the issue. We obtained to determine easy methods to get higher. We obtained to determine easy methods to get previous that time. We obtained to determine easy methods to end robust in seasons to enter the playoffs.”
The Steelers have taken completely different routes to get so far every year, however the vacation spot is identical. In their two most up-to-date playoff appearances earlier than the 2024 season, the Steelers rallied from sluggish begins to clinch a playoff berth within the ultimate week of the season. In 2020, they began 11-0 earlier than shedding 4 of their ultimate 5. And in 2017, they received the AFC North and hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars after a first-round bye.
Yet every of these appearances ended the identical method because the Steelers’ season concluded Saturday evening in Baltimore: a loss of their lone playoff sport.
“I’m simply assessing what transpired tonight,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin mentioned when requested concerning the sample of one-and-dones within the playoffs. “As I instructed you guys earlier within the week, these are my luggage, not this collective’s luggage. And so my power is on that group in there and what they have been keen to provide and the journey that we have been on this 12 months, and definitely it got here to a disappointing finish tonight.”
Saturday evening was a rerun of the identical nightmare that performed out in every of these postseason losses. The Steelers fell behind early and trailed 21-0 at halftime, marking their second-largest halftime playoff deficit behind a 25-point gap to the Cleveland Browns in 2020.
“Losing sucks,” mentioned edge rusher T.J. Watt, who did not file a deal with or sack and had 5 quarterback pressures. “Losing 5 in a row to complete the season out sucks. Felt like we had a very good week of prep. Felt like we have been prepared for this one. We weren’t. We weren’t capable of cease the run. Haven’t been capable of cease the run. We weren’t capable of get it fastened. So it has been tough final month of soccer.”
Dating again to the 2016 AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots, the Steelers have been outscored by a mixed 96 factors and outgained by 641 yards of their previous six playoff losses.
“It’s robust in a sport, however cannot whine about it,” mentioned defensive deal with Cameron Heyward, who has been on the crew for the previous six playoff losses. “They’re going to make performs, however we now have to make our personal performs, and we didn’t try this.”
The Ravens started making these performs of their opening possession when MVP candidate Lamar Jackson and working again Derrick Henry mixed for 71 speeding yards throughout a drive that ended with a 15-yard Rashod Bateman landing catch. The Ravens had much more success working the ball on their second scoring drive after they solely rushed through the 85-yard sequence, which was capped by Henry’s 8-yard landing. By the top of the evening, the Ravens put up 299 speeding yards on a once-stout Steelers run protection.
“Having 300 yards speeding on you is worse than having 300 yards passing,” Elliott mentioned. “It was like a will. They undoubtedly put belt to butt immediately.”
As was the case through the Steelers’ four-game shedding streak to finish the common season, the defensive gamers struggled to verbalize what wanted to vary.
“It’s too contemporary,” Watt mentioned. “I do not know. I haven’t got the solutions. Clearly, if I had the solutions, I might’ve carried out one thing in a different way this week. I felt like we had a very good week, good week of prep. Felt like we had a comparatively wholesome set of men, particularly defensively, put the pads on. I felt like we had a bodily follow week and did not correlate.”
Watt later added: “If I had the reply, we would not be right here proper now. I’m going to have to have a look within the mirror and have some conversations, however I haven’t got the solutions.”
Though they could not put a finger on the mandatory fixes, gamers who spoke after the sport unanimously mentioned the issue is not Tomlin.
“I do not fear about Mike’s message,” Heyward mentioned. “I fear about our approach and our execution. That’s what I’m actually apprehensive about. I simply want we had performed quite a bit higher. It’s not a message factor, it isn’t that is groundbreaking, however there was alternatives available, and we did not seize something.”
