This time of the year, for every NFL team, almost certainly means taking the field without a few of your best players after 17 week of the regular season have ravaged every team with injuries. No one stays healthy.
What teams aren’t expecting is to be without a superstar player for a reason like the Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with when it comes to wide receiver DK Metcalf, who will serve the final game of a 2-game suspension for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for making contact with a fan during a win over the Detroit Lions in Week 16.
It’s as unusual a circumstance as you could cook up for Week 18, with the Steelers hosting the Baltimore Ravens with the AFC North Division title and a spot in the AFC Playoffs on the line.
Metcalf said he had a previous interaction with the Lions fan, Ryan Kennedy, and that Kennedy used a racial slur in their latest confrontation in which Metcalf held Kennedy by his shirt then pushed him away. Kennedy has denied all of Metcalf’s allegations.
The Ravens, on the other hand, get to face the Steelers with a completely healthy secondary and the Steelers missing their top receiving threat. It’s something that didn’t turn out too well in their first game without Metcalf, which was a 13-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 17 which set up the “Winner Take All” game in Week 18.
Steelers Paid Big Money to Obtain Metcalf
The Steelers cut bait with one troublesome, elite wide receiver in George Pickens by trading him to the Dallas Cowboys for a third round pick in order to obtain another troublesome, elite wide receiver by trading a second round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Metcalf.
The Steelers didn’t stop there. They also made Metcalf one of the NFL’s highest paid wide receivers with a 4-year, $132 million contract extension.
The problem? Pickens turned out to be more than elite for the Cowboys, earning Pro Bowl honors for the first time, and is third in the NFL in receiving with career highs of 92 receptions for 1,420 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Metcalf, by comparison, has underwhelmed with 59 receptions for 850 yards and 6 touchdowns while pulling in $35 million this season â compared to just $3.65 million for Pickens.
Game Plan for Ravens: Feed the Rock to One Man
ESPN analyst and former NFL MVP quarterback Cam Newton broke down a simple and effective game plan for the Ravens if they want to beat the Steelers: Give the ball to Derrick Henry.
Henry is coming off one of the greatest performances of his career in a 41-24 Week 17 win over the Green Bay Packers in which he set the Lambeau Field record for an opponent by rushing for 216 yards and 4 touchdowns on 36 carries.
“Give the ball to King Henry, that’s it,” Newton said on “First Take” on Monday, December 29. “The Steelers have been one of the NFL’s worst run defenses for most of the season. It’s simple.”
The Steelers won the first meeting between the teams, 27-22, with the Ravens rushing for 217 yards.
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