{"id":648558,"date":"2026-01-02T17:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/648558\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:03:11","slug":"magic-number-is-21-points-for-ravens-against-steelers-believes-bucky-brooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/648558\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Magic Number Is 21’ Points For Ravens Against Steelers, Believes Bucky Brooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 season could end Sunday night. If they lose to the Baltimore Ravens, then they\u2019ll lose their playoff spot. They\u2019ve fought hard to hang on to the AFC North crown, but it all comes down to Week 18. The Steelers are coming off one of their worst games of the season, while Derrick Henry and the Ravens had a statement game against the Green Bay Packers. Bucky Brooks doesn\u2019t think that the Steelers\u2019 offense will be able to keep up<\/a> with the Ravens.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into this game, if you\u2019re Baltimore, you have to say the magic number is 21,\u201d Brooks said Friday on his Move the Sticks podcast.<\/a> \u201cYou can\u2019t imagine the Pittsburgh Steelers scoring more than 21 points given what they\u2019re playing with. How can we manufacture 21 points?<\/p>\n

\u201cRun it, run it, run it, kick it every time we have an opportunity, and just keep stacking points and see if Aaron Rodgers and company are good enough to match them point for point. I don\u2019t think they can do it. This is gonna take Mike Tomlin\u2019s best coaching job to be able to get it done. Because, in my mind, they are heavy underdogs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers put up 27 points against the Ravens when the two teams met in Week 14. However, that was with DK Metcalf, who had a monster game. He caught seven passes for 148 yards, consistently stretching the field.<\/p>\n

Now, the Steelers have to figure out how to recreate that without him.<\/a> They struggled to do that last week. None of their wide receivers stepped up. Scotty Miller led that group with three catches for 25 yards. While the Browns are better defensively than the Ravens, it was still a disappointing effort. A repeat of that performance won\u2019t get the job done this week.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the Steelers could get Calvin Austin III back. He\u2019s not Metcalf, but he should at least be an upgrade over what the Steelers had at wideout last week.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, they\u2019ll also be missing Darnell Washington, who broke his arm in Week 17. That might be just as big of a loss as Metcalf. Not only has Washington developed into a solid receiving threat, but he\u2019s also a key part of the Steelers\u2019 run game. Their offense will miss him.<\/p>\n

Steelers-Ravens games are usually low-scoring affairs. However, both defenses aren\u2019t what they used to be. Both teams should have chances to put points on the board. The Steelers could be in trouble if they fall behind, though. Even with Lamar Jackson banged up, the Ravens\u2019 offense has a lot of firepower.<\/a> Chasing 21 points could be good for the Steelers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 season could end Sunday night. If they lose to the Baltimore Ravens, then they\u2019ll lose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[117,8592,7,89428,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-648558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-baltimore-ravens","9":"tag-bucky-brooks","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-move-the-sticks","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115826590125738597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}