The Ravens-Steelers rivalry is defined by close games. The rivalry's first playoff game in Baltimore was a one-sided affair, however.
The Ravens dominated the Steelers in Saturday's 28-14 wild-card playoff win at M&T Bank Stadium.
Here's a look at the film to see how it happened:
The "Lamar Jackson Effect" was in full force.
In his opening statement Saturday night, Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin was quite clear in his assessment of what the difference was in the game.
"The X factor was Lamar's unique talents," Tomlin said.
On the Ravens' third offensive snap of the game, facing a third-and-2, Jackson ran a QB read-option with Justice Hill. Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith crashed down on Hill, Jackson popped out around the edge, juked safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, and picked up the first down.
That was the first of five straight running plays for Jackson. One was a scramble. The rest were all QB run options in which Jackson was either handing off to the back or keeping it himself (he may have considered a pass on the final one).
None of the runs popped for big gains, as Jackson picked up just 22 collective yards. But they had a massive influence on the rest of the game. The Steelers had to stop Jackson not just as a scrambler, but as a run-pass-option (RPO) keeper.
That threat put all eyes on Jackson, opening up the Steelers defense numerous times for big runs by Derrick Henry. Pittsburgh's defense didn't know who to take or which way to go.
The end result was 299 rushing yards for the Ravens, with 186 coming from Henry and another 81 from Jackson – his most since Week 1 in Kansas City.
With the Steelers' outside linebackers aggressively charging downhill, the Ravens hardly used any play-action passing (only three all game). Instead, they forced Pittsburgh's linebackers to pick their poison between Jackson and Henry, and both killed them.
Todd Monken added a new wrinkle late in the week.
The Ravens have seen firsthand the threat Henry poses taking the direct snap.
Last season in London, Henry ran for 63 yards on a Wildcat keeper in which he faked a reverse pitch before slicing through Baltimore's defense.
Center Tyler Linderbaum said that on Thursday or Friday of last week, Monken inserted a new wrinkle into the gameplan, borrowing from that concept. Except this time, he used the Steelers' focus on Jackson to create the lane.
Jackson lined up wide and motioned across the formation, which drew both Steelers inside linebackers (Patrick Queen and Elandon Roberts) and safety DeShon Elliott with him. That's three covering one and opened up a wide lane for Henry's 34-yard run on the Ravens' opening drive.
"I'm just excited we got a big run out of it," center Tyler Linderbaum said. "Anytime the ball is in [Henry's] hands, he has the playmaking ability to get big runs."
With Zay Flowers out, Ravens used different personnel but still found success.
Much of the conversation last week was how the Ravens would make up for the loss of top wide receiver Zay Flowers, who is dealing with a knee injury.
Not surprisingly, the Ravens leaned heavily on their tight ends, as Baltimore utilized 2-TE sets on a season-high 69.4% of plays, per Next Gen Stats. Isaiah Likely led the team with 53 receiving yards on three catches.
What's interesting is how much the Ravens still operated in a similar fashion with their motion, showing just how essential that is to the offense. Flowers is often moved around the formation, but Baltimore still used motion on 63.9% of its snaps against the Steelers, which is just a tick below the season average (65.7%).
The Ravens plugged in Anthony Miller, who had caught just one pass in the regular season, and Steven Sims, who they claimed off waivers just before their Christmas game. Miller caught three passes for 12 yards.
Sims was used on a jet sweep that popped for a 15-yard gain in the third quarter, stretching the Steelers horizontally once again. On the next play, Henry gutted them up the middle for a 44-yard touchdown.
Ravens showed high level of execution in critical passing situations.
The Ravens faced a critical third-and-13 on their first offensive drive of the game in the red zone. The difference between kicking field goals and scoring touchdowns is always paramount and it will be even moreso in the divisional playoffs in Buffalo.
The Ravens had the league's No. 1 red-zone offense in the regular season in large part because they have run so effectively down there. But there was no running on third-and-13, so Monken dialed up a great play and the Ravens executed it perfectly with a touchdown strike from Jackson to Rashod Bateman.
The Ravens' passing game also showed excellent execution on their final touchdown drive just before halftime, zooming 90 yards down the field in just one minute, 51 seconds to score with two seconds left.
Tomlin took a timeout with the Ravens facing third-and-3 from their own 17 with 1:08 left, hoping to steal another possession. Bateman made Tomlin pay, beating Joey Porter Jr. with a nifty inside slant route (it looks like he used a little hesitation) to move the chains and the Ravens were off to the races.
A 19-yard strike to Isaiah Likely put the Ravens at the 5-yard line, but Likely couldn't get out of bounds. He did a great job running the football to the referee so Jackson could spike it as fast as possible. Turns out, every second mattered.
The Ravens finished the drive with Jackson's latest magic act, as he scrambled around for a whopping 6.31 seconds before finding Justice Hill, who was assigned to block on the play, leaking out for a touchdown.
The Ravens' offensive line did a particularly awesome job buying Jackson time, as he didn't see Bateman wide open over the middle.
Roger Rosengarten stuffed T.J. Watt, with help from the scheme.
The fact that Ravens rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten shut out star Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt from the box score (zero tackles and zero sacks) is mind blowing.
A potential game-wrecker, Watt had just one sack in three games versus the Ravens.
Of course, the Ravens' scheme played a part in that, as outlined above. Watt was put in a blender not knowing who to take on RPOs.
But Rosengarten, as shown in the touchdown pass to Hill and other plays, also had a heck of a game. The rookie rose to the occasion in his first playoff game.
