What the Pittsburgh Steelers defense did to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens explosive offense is nothing short of remarkable. They were held to 16 points, 124 total rushing yards and Jackson was held to 207 passing yards. But those aren’t the most eye-opening stats.
For eight straight games, Jackson had a quarterback rating over 100. On Sunday, he finished with a 66.1 rating. And now you see what Mike Tomlin means about respecting Jackson. They did everything they could to not just contain that offense, but virtually make it impossible for them to do what they do well.
With the loss, Jackson also fell to 1-4 against the Steelers in his career.
Mike Tomlin, Steelers defense have Lamar Jackson’s number
Whatever secret weapon Tomlin is gatekeeping on how to defend Jackson, he better hold on to it tight. The Ravens were handed their second loss in nine games after starting the season 0-2. They quickly found a way to get Jackson, Henry and the rest of the offense in sync and steamrolled their way to five straight wins.
Jackson looked unstoppable. He looked like he was en route to his second-straight league MVP award and third of his career.
And then Tomlin and the Steelers defense showed everyone the way to thwart the high-powered offense. It involves strategic blitzes, disguises and following assignments.
Jackson and the Ravens feast on explosive plays. Part of the reason they were able to get hot was they were able to create a lot of big plays for the offense. But they didn’t have any on Sunday.
It’s what other teams can learn from that game. When Jackson moves around the pocket, you can’t lose your man. His ability to extend plays is second to none. When you take that away from him, he becomes a little bit easier to defend.
According to an article on Essentiallysports.com, the Steelers game plan was to take away the run. They knew they couldn’t take away both and it’s a lot harder to pass when you can’t run as effectively.
Jackson has, at least by the numbers, one of his worst games of the season. And it was less about what he did and more about the Steelers getting more and more comfortable being able to contain him and the offense.