Steelers win the battle but may have lost the war, following an offensive showing that could repeat itself after latest injury
The Steelers prevented Myles Garrett from reaching the sack record, but it may have come with a much higher cost.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had it all out in front of them. All the team had to do was win a game against a 3-12 Browns team, and they would punch their ticket to the playoffs as AFC North champions. Instead, the game came down to a fourth-and-goal situation, and Denzel Ward broke up a pass to keep the Baltimore Ravens alive.
The bigger issue wasn’t the result; it was the process. The Steelers offense played like a unit, making sure Myles Garrett didn’t reach the all-time single-season sack record. Well, congratulations, Steelers, you did that, but you may have just cost yourself the division, especially after Mike Tomlin’s update on Darnell Washington.
Steelers focus more on Myles Garrett, lose Darnell Washington to broken arm vs. Browns
Tomlin announced after the game that the reason the Steelers ruled Washington out so fast was that the Steelers’ giant TE broke his arm. Now, the Steelers head into a winner-take-all, Week 18 matchup against the Ravens down DK Metcalf, arguably their top pass-catching TE, and potentially no Calvin Austin III.
Why? Because the Steelers seemed to be more focused on containing Myles Garrett than they were winning the division, even if they tell you otherwise.
“We didn’t do anything against Myles that we don’t normally do against Myles [Garrett]” said Mike Tomlin after the game via the Steelers YouTube channel. “The sack records are irrelevant. We got to minimize him if we want to engineer victory. We did the same thing last time we played him. I didn’t think he had any sacks in that game either. And so we didn’t take a different approach because of the gravity of the record. It’s just standard business when you’re playing these guys.”
Tomlin can say all of those things, but if you watched the game, you saw that on fourth-and-1, the team decided to throw a quick fade to Scotty Miller. Then again, on third and four, the Steelers ran an outside zone run play. The calls, the results of those calls, and every offensive drive until the last one showed you that Pittsburgh was worried about Garrett.
So worried that now the team’s season comes down to a must-win game against the Ravens. One where, instead of resting its players and gearing up for a home playoff game, Pittsburgh will be pulling out all the stops to make the postseason.
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