BALTIMORE (AP) — This has become a bit of a habit for the Pittsburgh Steelers in recent years — arriving in Baltimore on the playoff bubble for their regular-season finale.
The Ravens host the Steelers on Saturday, and although the matchup doesn’t mean much for Baltimore’s postseason seeding, it’s huge for Pittsburgh. The Steelers can clinch a postseason berth with a victory and a loss by either Buffalo or Jacksonville. There is a scenario in which Pittsburgh could get in with a loss, but that requires help from multiple teams.
“We’ve been in this situation so many times, you can’t afford to look at all the, ‘We need this to happen, we need that to happen,’” Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt said. “At the end of the day, if we don’t take care of our business — I know it sounds so cliché — but it really doesn’t matter.”
Baltimore (13-3) has already wrapped up the top seed in the AFC and MVP favorite Lamar Jackson isn’t playing in this game.
It was a similar scenario in 2019, when the Ravens hosted Pittsburgh to end the regular season and were in a position to hold Jackson out. The Steelers were fighting for a postseason spot, but they lost to Baltimore — with Robert Griffin III at quarterback — and didn’t make it.