The Pittsburgh Steelers season ended Sunday with a 28-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The loss was the third in a row for the Steelers, who went from a Wild Card team three weeks ago, to missing the playoffs for the second straight year. The Steelers managed just 168 total yards in the game. Running back Benny Snell carried the ball 18 times for 91 yards. Quarterback Devlin Hodges went 9-of-25 for just 95 yards.
Baltimore possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes of the game. The Ravens finished the game with 223 yards rushing, and broke the NFL team record set by New England in 1978. They gained 3,296 yards on the ground in the regular season.
Linebacker T. J. Watt finished the game with a half-sack and a forced fumble. He finished the season with 14-1/2 sacks, eight forced fumbles, four recoveries and two interceptions.
As the season wrapped up Sunday – the Steelers opponents in 2020 were finalized. In addition to the AFC North teams, the Steelers will meet teams from the NFC East next season. They will host Philadelphia and Washington, while going on the road to face the New York Giants and Dallas. The Steelers will also visit Jacksonville, Tennessee and Buffalo. They host Indianapolis, Houston and Denver.
The NFL playoffs begin this weekend.
On Saturday:
–Buffalo will visit the Houston Texans at 4:35pm.
–New England will host Tennessee at 8:15pm. The Titans earned the final AFC Wild Card with a victory over Houston Sunday. New England lost a first-round “bye” when they fell to Miami 27-24 Sunday. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a five-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds remaining to beat the Patriots, and forcing New England to play an opening-round playoff game for the first time since 2009. The Patriots have never won a Super Bowl without a first-round “bye”.
Sunday’s games will feature the NFC Wild Card games:
–New Orleans will host Minnesotat at 1:05pm.
–Seattle will visit Philadelphia.
The Cleveland Browns fired head coach Freddie Kitchens following a 33-23 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday. He is the fifth coach fired by the Browns since 2012. The Browns finished the season 6-10 and missed the playoffs for the 17th straight year.