The “A” players had to perform at an “A” level. The game could not be won in the first quarter, but it could be lost in the first quarter, meaning it would take 60 minutes to end in a win, but if the opponent was allowed to build a big, early lead , you could make it impossible to close a significant deficit against a top-tier team on its home field.

Checking these boxes will give you a chance to win in the fourth quarter, because historically that’s what it always comes down to in these games against the Ravens.

It may have been easy, but that didn’t make it easy.

The Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs with a 28-14 loss to the Ravens in the Wild Card Round at M&T Bank Stadium, and that’s because they didn’t follow the formula.

That’s how it started. On the offense’s first four possessions – roughly a full half of the football – 17 plays were made, two first downs were scored and four punts were scored. In that same half of football, the defense allowed the Ravens to rush for 164 yards and convert 7 of 8 on third down. Particularly problematic was Baltimore’s 13-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, which featured only running plays and required only two third-down conversions.

At the end of the first half, Derrick Henry had a 100-yard rushing average, including a 34-yard chunk run; and Lamar Jackson managed 64 yards rushing with a 5.8 average, including a 20-yard chunk run.

“We just weren’t physical enough,” OLB Alex Highsmith said. “We didn’t block enough. We didn’t make enough tackles and that’s what it’s all about. To stop the run you have to be physical. You have to make tackles and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”

This is especially disappointing when it happens against the Ravens. This hatred has its roots in the 1950s, when the Ravens were headquartered in Cleveland and the teams’ fans packed Cleveland Stadium on a Saturday night to watch an on-field bar brawl while many of their members threw hand to hand stalls. A generation or two later, the Steelers vs. Ravens game in the 2008 AFC Championship Game was so violent that it became the impetus for what is now known as the Player Safety Initiative.

So if one team achieves physical superiority in such a duel, it’s no fun for the other team. Because as Joe Greene once put it, “NFL football is not an ‘excuse’ profession.”

The Steelers’ deficit was 21-0 and the Ravens were set to receive the kickoff to open the second half. From that point on, the Steelers were able to trade shots in the third and fourth quarters, but the Ravens are too good and ran the ball too effectively for the final outcome to ever really be in doubt.

“There were times where we weren’t in our gaps,” DT Cam Heyward said, “and there were times where we didn’t tackle well. Thanks to her. To (Derrick Henry) and (Lamar Jackson), they had a lot. “I wish we had a better result, but starting the game 21-0 didn’t do us a lot of favors.

Early in the second half, the Steelers defense forced a punt when ILB Elandon Roberts failed to stop Henry on a third-and-1 near midfield. Russell Wilson then led the offense with a 9-play, 98-yard touchdown drive that included a third-and-9 from the 3-yard line with a 25-yard beauty shot down the middle of the field transformed into Calvin Austin III. a third-and-5 with a 37-yard moonball down the sideline to Mike Williams and then a third-and-10 with a 30-yard strike to the end zone to Van Jefferson for a touchdown.

It was exactly what the Steelers needed a few quarters earlier.

The Ravens’ next offensive series began with a 10-yard sack of Jackson by Highsmith, but that was overcome with three consecutive big plays. A 21-yard pass from Jackson to WR Tylan Wallace, a 15-yard jet sweep from Steven Sims and the coup de grace was a 44-yard dash through the Henry defense for an answering touchdown.

Yes, the Steelers even found an answer to that when Wilson completed 3-for-3 for 66 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown to George Pickens, but while that looked pretty, it even had the feel of “too little, too late.” “. even though there were still 18 minutes to play.

“I just think sometimes you get opportunities like that when you play with a lead,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I appreciate the guys’ efforts. We certainly played to win, but we couldn’t close the gap. I thought (Derrick Henry’s) big run dampened some of that a little bit. Of course I appreciate that.” The effort and intensity with which we entered the field in the second half was great.

But the deficit was simply a bridge too far.

“Congratulations to the Ravens. They were the better group today,” Tomlin said. “The X factor was Lamar’s unique talents. It seems like every time we put him behind the posts he made up for it, or every time we put him in a possession situation he extended and won those circumstances. We never really found one.” That showed up all day in our inability to convert third downs, and they wore us out a little bit. In summary, they were the better group today.”

It’s exciting to qualify for the playoffs, but when it ends, it ends abruptly. The Steelers will now have months to stew in a season that held the hope and promise of a 10-3 record in December, only to end the regular season with four straight losses and then a final loss to the Ravens to suffer.

And although these Ravens came into the game at 12-5 and were back-to-back AFC North champions, these were the same Ravens who had beaten the Steelers in 8 of the last 10 meetings and 4 of the last 5 in Baltimore. It was seen as a good sign that their benchmark would be against a familiar opponent, an opponent against whom they had success both home and away.

That the result would be a two-touchdown loss will leave a scar.

“I’m less worried about the regular season,” Tomlin said. “We’re in the single-elimination tournament. I’m just disappointed with our performance tonight given the opportunity we had.”