The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 season ended in disappointment, failing to win a playoff game again. However, it could’ve been worse. They could’ve been the Baltimore Ravens, who had their hearts ripped out by the Steelers in Week 18. That game was for the division title, and the Ravens had victory in their grasp. However, rookie kicker Tyler Loop missed the potential game-winning field goal, ending Baltimore’s season. Former Ravens wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins recently shared some extra details of how the team reacted to that failure.
“That was probably the hottest I’d seen the locker room in a while,” Hopkins said via ButtaIMB’s Twitter. “Me and Derrick [Henry] was just looking at each other like, ‘Did that really just happen?’ I ain’t think it was real for a second. I thought I was still dreaming, I was like, ‘Ain’t no way he missed that…’ But really, it shouldn’t have gotten down to depending on him to kick a 40-yarder.
“We felt, as an offense, we should’ve ran the ball with Derrick. As players, we felt like we should’ve kept handing the ball off to Derrick and let him try to go score…You’ve gotta give him a chance to go and score and not put it on the rookie. As players, we felt like they didn’t trust us to go score.”
The Ravens got into field goal range with 14 seconds left in the game. They had one timeout left, but instead of trying to run another play and get a few more yards, Baltimore had Lamar Jackson take a knee and run the clock down.
Loop’s miss opens up the argument that not running the ball was a mistake. However, hindsight is 20/20, especially in the NFL. It’s easy to say that the Ravens should’ve given Henry another carry. The risk might not have been worth the reward, though. He’s had fumbling issues, especially in the last two years. Henry coughed the ball up four times in 2025.
Consider the circumstances, too. Henry had run for 126 yards in that game, but most of that came in the first half. The Steelers had contained him in the second half.
Also, they weren’t facing down a particularly long field goal. It was a 44-yard attempt, and while that’s no gimme, it’s also become more routine for most kickers.
The Ravens likely assumed they’d only pick up a few yards if they gave Henry the ball on that penultimate play. That wasn’t worth the Steelers potentially knocking the ball out of his hands. That’s not a hard decision to make, and plenty of other teams would’ve done the same thing.
Hopkins’ feelings are understandable. It’s easy to say that the Ravens should’ve done things differently. However, there’s no guarantee that giving Henry another carry would’ve made a difference.
The fact of the matter is that the Steelers were the better team that day. The Ravens had an ugly season, and that led them to fire head coach John Harbaugh shortly after that Week 18 loss. Still, the Steelers’ playoff hopes didn’t survive long after that. Neither team was good enough last year. They’ll be looking to change that this year, though, and that will likely add even more fire to their rivalry.