There was much joy in Baltimore when officials on the field ruled that tight end Isaiah Likely caught a touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson with less than three minutes to play, but the mood shifted after replay weighed in.
Likely had two feet down in the end zone and was taking a third step when the ball was knocked out of his hands. The ruling of a catch was overturned and the Steelers wound up stopping the Ravens on fourth down to force a turnover. That left Pittsburgh up 27-22 when the Ravens got the ball back on their own 26-yard line at the two-minute warning.
It’s the second straight week that saw Likely involved in a costly play in the end zone. He fumbled the ball out of the end zone in Baltimore’s Thanksgiving loss to the Bengals.
Lamar Jackson converted a fourth down pass to Likely to keep the drive alive and they picked up another first down on a pass to tight end Charlie Kolar at the Steelers’ 39-yard line. A Jackson spike stopped the clock at 16 seconds and a completion to Mark Andrews moved them nine yards closer with nine seconds to play, but Alex Highsmith ended the game by sacking Jackson on the next play.
The Likely non-catch wasn’t the only call that was met with anger by the Ravens. A Steelers field goal in the first half came off the board thanks to a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty on defensive lineman Travis Jones and the Steelers scored a touchdown after that call. An apparent interception was also overturned when replay determined Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was down after catching a pass batted back into his hands.
Rodgers had one of his best days as a Steeler while going 23-of-34 for 284 yards. He threw the ball down the field more than he has in most games and connected seven times for 148 yards with wide receiver DK Metcalf. The veteran also ran for a touchdown for the first time since January 2023.
Jackson showed more mobility than he has in recent weeks. He ran seven times for 43 yards and a score, but probably should have thrown the ball away on the final play in order to give the Ravens one more chance to win the game. He also threw a costly interception in the first half and finished the day 19-of-35 for 219 yards through the air.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh will likely have some things to say about all three calls in his postgame press conference, but there’s no changing the fact that the Steelers are now in first place in the AFC North with a 7-6 record. The two teams will play again in Week 18, but there’s no guarantee that the division will still be up for grabs at that point.
Harbaugh will also likely be asked about passing on a field goal after the Likely play. It would have cut the Steelers’ lead to two points and the Ravens had all three timeouts left, but the Ravens opted to play for a touchdown.
The Steelers will be home to face the Dolphins next week while the Ravens will try to avoid their third straight loss when they travel to Cincinnati.
