‘Pick Your Poison’: Steelers DC Says Primary Focus Will Be Shutting Down Ravens’ Run Game

This Sunday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will feature the No. 2 scoring defense and the No. 1 scoring offense in a head-to-head matchup. While the Steelers’ defense has been very strong, the Ravens’ offense is doing historic things. Shutting them down completely probably isn’t in the cards.

The Steelers have some decisions to make when it comes to prioritizing the Ravens’ third-ranked pass offense or their league-best rushing offense. It sounds like Pittsburgh will be focusing on the latter.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin appeared on NFL Network’s The Insiders on Friday evening and was posed the question of prioritizing Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry.

“Well, you have to pick your poison there,” Austin said. “They’re 1 and 1a, and I think for us we always go into a game that we say, hey, we don’t want the running game to really batter us. Because if the running game is battering you, it demoralizes you. And so we’re really gonna be focused on the run game and how/if we can slow this guy down, I think that’s gonna be a big thing.

“And then obviously the things that Lamar’s doing in the pass game, they’re very challenging. I mean the guy’s had three or four perfect passer ratings this year. I mean, they’re number one in points scored…You can try to stop ’em both, but I think we’ll really be trying to focus on this run game first and then doing what we can in the pass game to try to held ’em down.”

Before anybody gets worked up about Austin tipping his hand for giving away their game plan, this is how the Steelers’ defense attacks every opposing team. This isn’t exactly news for the Ravens, who play the Steelers at least two times per season. But it’s still interesting to hear him double down on their commitment to stopping the run.

The Ravens have gained 182.6 yards per game on the ground. Henry is the lead back, but Jackson obviously helps float that average for them a bit, too. But if you commit too heavily to stopping the run, the Ravens have 257.6 yards per game through the air. They have Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Diontae Johnson and others who are plenty capable, and Jackson is by far the best he’s been as a passer in his career.

Check out our scouting report on the Ravens offense below.

I have been writing about Russell Wilson’s ridiculously good 8.24 adjusted net yards per passing attempt (ANY/A) for weeks now. Jackson leads the league in that stat with an other-worldly 9.85 through 10 games. He is head and shoulders above his two MVP campaigns in basically every passing stat you can think up, and already has 24 passing touchdowns to just two interceptions.

The Steelers are going to prioritize the run, but Jackson can absolutely still dice them up with his arm.