Tim Benz: Where the Steelers must improve their rush defense against the Ravens

In the week leading up to Round 2 of Steelers-Ravens for this season, one talking point has been abundantly clear in the Steelers locker room: Do better against the Baltimore rushing attack.

For good reason.

The Ravens trampled the Steelers on the ground last month when the teams met for the first time this season. Coach John Harbaugh’s offense wound up with 215 yards rushing. And that was without star quarterback Lamar Jackson. He’s recovering from a knee injury suffered Dec. 4.

The former NFL MVP leads the team with 764 yards rushing at a 6.8 per attempt average. He also tops the club with 46 first downs, has five runs over 20 yards and has scored three times running the football.

In fact, Jackson has missed the last two games against the Steelers. He also sat out the season finale last year because of an ankle injury suffered in Week 14. Both times the Steelers faced Baltimore’s backup quarterback Tyler Huntley.

Last year, the Steelers allowed Huntley to gain 72 yards on the ground. But he was sacked three times, fumbled once and threw two interceptions en route to a 16-13 overtime win for the Steelers in Baltimore.

This year in Pittsburgh, the Ravens beat the Steelers with Huntley starting. But he only managed 31 yards rushing before getting knocked out of the game in the third quarter by Minkah Fitzpatrick.

The Steelers also tend to have more success against Jackson than most clubs. He’s only 2-3 against the Steelers with a passer rating of 67.4 and yards per game average of 43.4 on the ground.

A significant reason for those numbers is that — regardless of facing Jackson or Huntley at quarterback — the Steelers are dedicated to constantly attacking the QB in the run game.

Whenever the Ravens attempt one of their read-option plays, where it’s up to Jackson or Huntley to hand the ball off to a running back or keep it, the Steelers frequently dedicate one defensive player (usually an outside linebacker such as T.J. Watt or Alex Highsmith) to just attack the quarterback. Run at him and hit him, regardless of whether he held onto the ball or gave it up.

“Whether or not the quarterback is carrying the ball, you have to be responsible for him as they carry out play fakes and so forth that mirror other coordinated runs. Whether it’s Huntley or Jackson, all of those things have been very similar,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday.

It’s a formula that has worked for the Steelers containing Huntley and Jackson. Not so much for the running backs, though. At least not in the last two games.

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Latavius Murray popped off for 150 yards in the regular season finale last year. J.K. Dobbins (120 yards on 13 carries) and Gus Edwards (66 yards on seven carries) combined for 186 yards against the Steelers back on Dec. 11 of this year.

Dobbins followed his 120-yard effort against the Steelers with 120 against the Browns during a 13-3 loss. Edwards posted 99 yards last week during a 17-9 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

“We know how their lineup has been the last few weeks,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said Wednesday. “We know that (Edwards and Dobbins) are the most dangerous guys. We know that if we are going to be successful, we have to stop those two guys.”

Jackson was not seen by media members during an open portion of practice Wednesday.

“There’s nobody in the league like Lamar. He’s just a different threat,” Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace said Monday. “So when he is not in the game, Huntley, obviously, is not the same person as Lamar. I don’t think there is anybody like Lamar. So they definitely lean on the backs a little bit more. But he is a good runner too, especially in key moments. He does a great job with ball security. They scheme him up really well too. When you think all about the backs, that’s when he keeps the ball, and he can hurt you. So we have to play it honest. He’s a good quarterback. A good runner as well.”

Since the loss to Baltimore earlier this month, the Steelers rush defense has been quite good. After that defeat by the Ravens, the team went to Charlotte and held the Carolina Panthers to only 21 yards rushing. That’s very impressive, considering the Panthers totaled 223 yards on the ground the previous week against the Seattle Seahawks. Then, the week after being shut down by the Steelers, Carolina returned to form by putting up a gaudy 320 rushing yards in a win over the Detroit Lions.

Last week, the Steelers rush defense allowed the NFL’s leading rusher, Josh Jacobs, a meager 44 yards rushing on 15 carries.

“I don’t know that that was a fork in the road for our run defense,” Tomlin said of the loss to the Ravens. “More than anything, I thought we had a bad day. I think our run defense has been really solid over the second half of the year. It wasn’t reflected in our play that day. There’s nothing we can do about that. That tape’s in the can. We’re preparing for this tape that we’re going to put out on Sunday night.”

It better be good. If it isn’t, the Steelers’ minuscule playoff hopes could finally be extinguished—if they aren’t already by kickoff. And so could the franchise’s streak of 18 consecutive years without a losing season.

In this week’s Breakfast With Benz podcast, Jeremy Conn of 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore gives Tim Benz the latest injury news on Lamar Jackson. Plus we look at the playoff scenarios for both the Ravens and Steelers. And we analyze the impact of flexing the game to Sunday night.

Listen: Tim Benz and Jeremy Conn talk Steelers-Ravens