BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Ravens said all week that they had signed Derrick Henry for this season’s season — and the Pro Bowl running back showed why in Saturday’s wild-card game.

On a cold winter evening in the postseason, Henry set a Ravens playoff record with 186 yards and two touchdowns as Baltimore defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14 at M&T Bank Stadium. Combined with quarterback Lamar Jackson’s 82 rushing yards, the Ravens totaled 298 rushing yards, which was also a franchise postseason record.

The Ravens reached the divisional round for the third time in five years. If the Buffalo Bills beat the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Baltimore will play at Buffalo next weekend. If the Bills are upset at home, the Ravens will host the Houston Texans.

Jackson was without his No. 1 target in wide receiver Zay Flowers, who was sidelined with a knee injury, but Baltimore still had Henry. In his first season with Baltimore, Henry proved that his game hasn’t slowed down despite his age. According to ESPN Research, Henry is the third-oldest player in NFL history to record 150 rushing yards in a playoff game at 31 years, 7 days old.

This was an emotional win against the Ravens’ biggest rival, AFC North. Baltimore defeated Pittsburgh in consecutive meetings for the first time since 2019.

Here’s what you should know for both teams:

Promising trend: For the first time in the postseason, Jackson led a touchdown drive on the first possession — and it was a marathon. According to ESPN Research, the Ravens’ 95-yard streak was the second-longest opening touchdown drive in the Super Bowl era. Jackson capped the 13-play drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rashod Bateman. The Ravens were 8-0 in regular-season games when Bateman scored a touchdown.

Amazing statistics: Henry reached a top speed of 20.6 mph on his 44-yard score, his longest touchdown run of the playoffs. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, it was Henry’s second touchdown run this season in which he reached at least 20 mph. Only Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley had more rushing touchdowns (seven) while exceeding 20 mph.

Most surprising performance: Jackson runs the ball. In a regular season in which he ran the ball less, Jackson took advantage of the Steelers’ aggression as they tried to stop running backs from Baltimore’s running options and make them pay. Jackson managed 82 rushing yards on 14 carries, his most since October. With 603 rushing yards in the playoffs, he surpassed Steve Young as the quarterback with the most rushing yards in NFL postseason history. — Jamison Hensley

Next game: at Bills or against Texans

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The rosters, opponents and location changed, but the results remained the same.

For the fifth time since 2017, the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs after one game despite revamping their quarterback room in the offseason and boasting one of the league’s highest-paid defenses, this time in an uninspired 28-14 loss to the Ravens .

With the loss, the Steelers ended the 2024 season on a five-game losing streak after starting the season 10-3. Pittsburgh didn’t lead in any of those five losses.

In an all-too-familiar story, the Steelers were completely overwhelmed in the first half of a playoff game on Saturday night. Then they experienced a glimmer of hope, followed by a rally that failed.

In the Steelers’ once-successful playoff history, their 21-point halftime deficit is second only to the 25-point deficit they suffered in the 2020 wild-card loss to the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers scored 14 points in the third quarter, twice cutting the Raven’s lead to 14, but never got closer.

With 80 wins over the last eight seasons, the Steelers have the most regular season wins in eight years without a playoff victory in NFL history.

Key game: Coach Mike Tomlin, struggling with a fourth-and-inches in the second quarter, opted to throw the ball back to the league’s MVP front-runner rather than trust his offense would gain minimal yardage. As a result, the NFL’s highest-paid defense gave up a 13-play, 85-yard drive – all rushes – capped by an 8-yard Henry touchdown to give the Ravens a 14-0 lead.

Biggest gap in the game plan: Not taking into account Jackson’s onslaught of reading options. After giving up 167 yards to Henry in Week 16, the Steelers insisted that stopping the running back was a top priority this time around. Not only did they not do that, they also couldn’t stop Jackson’s read option carries. According to ESPN Research, the Ravens duo combined for 164 rushing yards in the first half, and Jackson had 75 yards on his 13 carries before contact. As a team, the Ravens totaled 131 rushing yards before contact in the first half.

Worrying trend: Slow starts. As one of the few teams not to score a touchdown on their first drive this season, the Steelers continued their frustrating trend of slow starts. Pittsburgh trailed 21-0 at halftime Saturday night, outscored 81-37 and outscored 1,032-565 in the first half of their last five losses. Perhaps even more concerning is the same pattern reflected in the Steelers’ last six playoff losses. Including Saturday night, the team totaled 96 points and passed for 641 yards as a result of the 2016 AFC Championship loss to the New England Patriots. — Brooke Pryor