BALTIMORE (AP) — Fortune finally smiled on the Baltimore Ravens in their heated rivalry with Pittsburgh.
The Ravens recovered three of their own fumbles — and one big one by the Steelers. And when the game seemed to be going down to the wire like so many others in this series, Marlon Humphrey broke it open by returning an interception for a touchdown.
“It was big. That’s what you want to be able to do to put out that fire. Our offense has bailed us out so many times. Over the past, we’d give up a touchdown, then they’d go score,” Humphrey said. “It felt good to be able to return that favor.”
The Ravens beat Pittsburgh 34-17 on Saturday, clinching a playoff berth and pulling into a first-place tie with the Steelers in the AFC North. Baltimore had lost eight of the previous nine games against Pittsburgh.
Humphrey has a career-high six interceptions this season, and few defensive players have had his impact in terms of changing the complexion of games.
— On Oct. 6 at Cincinnati, he intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter that helped the Ravens rally to win in overtime.
— On Oct. 21 at Tampa Bay, he intercepted two passes in the second quarter — one in the end zone — as Baltimore rallied from an early deficit to win comfortably.
— On Nov. 7 against Cincinnati and the Ravens down 21-7, Humphrey forced a third-quarter fumble. Baltimore ended up winning by one.
— On Nov. 17 at Pittsburgh, Humphrey intercepted a pass in the end zone with the Ravens down five in the fourth quarter, although Baltimore lost anyway.
Then there was Saturday's pick-6, the first of his career.
“I think I put my goals for this year a little too low. I think I had on there six interceptions and one pick-6 and some forced fumbles, and I can’t remember everything,” Humphrey said. "Coming into this game, I had zero interception yards, so I was like, ‘Man, hopefully I’m not the first guy to have five or six picks with zero yards,’ so it was good to try to get that average up.”
Baltimore's other takeaway Saturday was a big one too. Ar'Darius Washington forced a fumble by Russell Wilson as he was bearing down on the Baltimore end zone.
"That was huge. The defense has been preaching turnovers, punching the ball out, picking off passes (and) fourth down stops," tight end Isaiah Likely said. “That mantra of creating turnovers came through for us today, and that was a big reason why we won that game.”
When the Ravens avoid self-inflicted problems, their offense remains really tough to stop. Lamar Jackson threw touchdowns to three different players against the Steelers, and Derrick Henry ran for 162 yards.
Aside from those two big turnovers, Wilson gave the Ravens problems, moving the ball pretty well against them for much of the game.
The Ravens showed much better discipline on defense. Baltimore was flagged only twice for 10 yards in the game — a couple of false starts on offense.
“We covered better. They had a couple downfield throws that we defended without grabbing,” coach John Harbaugh said. "So, I thought we did a good job.”
Baltimore fumbled three times, but was lucky to recover them all. Two of those miscues were by Desmond Kane, who appeared to have taken over the punt returning duties after a good performance the previous week but looked shaky against Pittsburgh.
Baltimore's running back depth took a hit when Justice Hill left the game because of a concussion. Rookie Rasheen Ali had 2 yards on his only carry.
Henry (1,636) became the fifth player in NFL history with 1,500 yards rushing in four different seasons. The others were Hall of Famers Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Edgerrin James and Walter Payton. Henry also joined Dickerson and Clinton Portis as the only players with 1,500-yard seasons for multiple franchises.
The Ravens wrap up a stretch of three games in 11 days when they play a Christmas Day game at Houston on Wednesday.
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