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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
BALTIMORE — Russell Wilson was frank in his assessment of the play where it all started to unravel for the Steelers in their 34-17 loss to the Ravens on Saturday night.
“It’s unacceptable,” Wilson said of his second-quarter fumble. “It can’t happen.”
The fumble, which occurred at the end of a 19-yard run as the quarterback ran into Ravens safety Ar’Darius Washington just 4 yards shy of the end zone, was one of two critical turnovers committed by Wilson in a loss that prevented the Steelers from celebrating an AFC North title on their bitter rival’s turf.
“It’s just really two negative plays,” said Wilson, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 217 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. “I felt like I was seeing it well. I thought the guys made some really good plays. … We knew it was going to be a tough fight throughout the end, and they made two plays on us that were significant plays and unfortunately I can’t let that happen.”
At the time of Wilson’s fumble, the Steelers (10-5) were knotted 7-7 with the Ravens, and they had great starting field position thanks to a 14-yard shanked punt by Baltimore’s Jordan Stout.
Coming off their first touchdown drive, the Steelers were moving the ball well. They picked up two plays of more than 10 yards on a reception by Jaylen Warren and a run by Najee Harris. Then on second-and-6, Wilson dropped back, and after seeing a swath of green grass in front of him, he opted to keep the ball and run it himself.
“I just thought we had a chance to go to the end zone and tried to cut back and just got hit,” Wilson said. “I think right before I hit the ground, the ball came out.
“I was kind of cutting off the block and just, I didn’t want to slide there, didn’t want to slide there. I felt like we could’ve got in the end zone — trying to get a touchdown and go for it. They made a good play.”
Wilson was halted — along with the Steelers’ momentum — by Washington’s tackle and Kyle Van Noy‘s fumble recovery as the Ravens (10-5) responded with a 96-yard touchdown drive.
“There’s ebb and flow of momentum in every game, and so it didn’t feel like it was a lost cause at that point by any stretch,” coach Mike Tomlin said.
Despite the missed opportunity in the second quarter, the Steelers still managed to keep the game close until the fourth quarter.
Driving down a score after Minkah Fitzpatrick‘s first interception in nearly two years, Wilson committed his second costly turnover with 13:06 remaining. This time, Wilson was intercepted by Marlon Humphrey, who returned the ball 37 yards for a pick-six to give the Ravens a 31-17 lead.
“I think that definitely changed the game when they got that interception,” Wilson said. “I thought the defense did a good job of getting the ball back, and I was trying to throw it to [MyCole Pruitt] in his front number. I felt like the ball just stayed inside, unfortunately, and they made a play.”
For the Ravens, Humphrey’s pick-six helped seal the team’s sixth playoff berth in seven years and ended Baltimore’s four-game losing streak to Pittsburgh. The Ravens are now in a first-place tie with the Steelers atop the AFC North with two weeks remaining.
“I really feel like I bleed purple and black, and to put a big play like that in the archives and it clinches the playoffs, it was huge,” Humphrey said.
The Steelers entered Baltimore with hopes of erasing the previous week’s loss to Philadelphia with a division-clinching win. Though that didn’t happen, the Steelers still control their own destiny in the division thanks to their Week 11 win against the Ravens. The simplest path to winning the AFC North and clinching the all-important home playoff game is by winning their final two games against the Chiefs and Bengals.
That first step comes in four days as they host the AFC-leading Chiefs on Christmas Day, capping off their stretch of three games in 11 days. The short turnaround means the Steelers don’t have time to wallow, Wilson said.
“We play on Wednesday,” Wilson said. “I don’t think there’s enough time to really sulk or worry or fear. … The one thing I’m not going to do is keep my head down, though. I know for us we got so much great confidence in who we are and what we can do and how we’re going to respond.
“We can’t let a tough game like this take us into a negative state of mind because there’s a lot more to play for and a lot more we’re searching for, and we can still win the [AFC] North. There’s still a lot of opportunity there, too, as well. And so we just got to buckle down and get back to work.”
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley contributed to this report.
