The Pittsburgh Steelers are in a real bind as the 2023 regular season winds down. Like in recent seasons, they need help to get into the playoffs. They don’t like to make it easy on themselves, do they?
In speaking with Steelers media today, Diontae Johnson said what we all did a few weeks ago.
“We shot ourselves in the foot those two games we should have won,” he said via 93.7 The Fan. Johnson should’ve said three, as the Steelers hit a three-game losing streak in the middle of the season’s second half with losses to the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.
But like any focused player in his position, he’s moved onto the season finale showdown with the best-in-league Baltimore Ravens.
“We can only control what we can control and keep trying to finish this season strong, and that’s winning on Saturday.”
The oddsmakers at BetMGM currently have the Ravens as 3.5-point favorites over the Steelers. At 13-3, Baltimore owns the longest win streak in the NFL with six, having last lost back in Week 10 to the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh, however, has their number with a 6-1 record since 2020 — three of those wins have come at M&T Bank Stadium.
Like the Steelers, the Ravens only did a walk-through on Tuesday, and head coach John Harbaugh said on Monday he wasn’t sure what his team’s personnel would look like on Saturday. They’ve clinched the division and No. 1 seed, so playing their starters would only be for pride and bragging rights should they secure a victory. Either way, the Steelers are in for a real battle, as always, against their divisional rivals.
#Steelers Diontae Johnson on playoff scenarios
“We shot ourselves in the foot, those two games (Arizona, NE) we should have won. We can only control what we can control and keep trying to finish this season strong and that’s winning on Saturday.”— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) January 3, 2024
