Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes and Marlon Humphrey scored on a fourth-quarter interception return to help the Baltimore Ravens pull even with Pittsburgh atop the AFC North with a 34-17 victory over the Steelers on Saturday.
Pittsburgh (10-5) would have clinched the division with a victory, but now the teams are deadlocked after the Ravens (10-5) won for just the second time in the last 10 games in this series. Baltimore clinched a playoff berth. The Steelers had already done so.
Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes, the second of which tied the game at 17 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Jackson answered with a seven-yard scoring strike to Mark Andrews, and after Pittsburgh turned the ball over on downs, a 44-yard run by Derrick Henry put the Ravens in the red zone.
That drive came to nothing when Jackson was intercepted for just the fourth time this season, but then Humphrey picked off Wilson and went 37 yards to the end zone to give Baltimore a cushion in a series that’s been razor-thin of late. The previous nine games between the Steelers and Ravens were decided by seven points or fewer.
Jackson improved to 2-4 against Pittsburgh as a starter. This was his first time facing the Steelers at home since 2020.
Henry rushed for 162 yards.
Pittsburgh entered the game with a plus-18 margin in turnovers, but the Ravens had the edge in that department Saturday. Baltimore recovered three of their own fumbles and had two big takeaways.
Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a nine-yard touchdown to open the scoring. Wilson answered with a one-yard scoring pass to MyCole Pruitt, and the Steelers appeared poised to take the lead when the veteran quarterback broke loose for a 19-yard run in Baltimore territory.
But Ar’Darius Washington delivered a punishing hit on Wilson at the end of that play, jarring the ball loose. Kyle Van Noy recovered for the Ravens at the Baltimore 4.
The Ravens then drove 96 yards and took a 14-7 lead on Jackson’s 14-yard touchdown toss to Rashod Bateman.
Wilson threw a 12-yard TD to Cordarrelle Patterson to tie it in the third.
Houston Texans 19-27 Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes knew he could run on the ankle he sprained last week. The bigger concern for the Chiefs quarterback was how he would stop, when all the weight and pressure and momentum would land squarely upon it.
The solution against Houston was simple: Mahomes didn’t stop.
The two-time MVP kept chugging forward until he plowed into the end zone on a 15-yard scramble to cap the Chiefs’ opening drive on Saturday. Mahomes proceeded to throw for 260 yards and another score, never once looking troubled by his ailing ankle, and led Kansas City to a 27-19 victory that put the Chiefs on the brink of the No 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.
The Chiefs (14-1) can clinch the postseason bye and home-field advantage if Buffalo loses to or ties New England on Sunday. If the Bills win, Kansas City can wrap it up by beating Pittsburgh on Christmas Day – their third game in an 11-day span.
“I ask a lot from the guys around me. I feel like if I’m going to ask them to play through pain and nicks and bruises, I’ve got to do it as well,” Mahomes said. “That’s something that I pride myself on is being out there with my guys.”
Xavier Worthy had seven catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, Kareem Hunt ran for 55 yards and another score, and Marquise Brown had five catches for 45 yards for Kansas City in his first game this season after recovering from a shoulder injury.
The result was what Chiefs coach Andy Reid called his team’s most comprehensive performance of the season.
As for Mahomes?
“He spoils the dog out of us, he’s so tough,” Reid said. “You get used to it. But most guys don’t come back from that like he did.”
CJ Stroud threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions for Houston (9-6), and one of those TD throws came at a great expense. Tank Dell, who had six catches for 98 yards, sustained a devastating knee injury on the play and was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center, where Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said he would remain overnight.
“All our thoughts and prayers are with Tank right now. You see what he means to our entire team,” Ryans said. “It hurts to see him go down like that. He was having a fantastic game, playing really well for us.”
Stroud was visibly shaken by the injury and had to be consoled by teammates on the sideline.
“I mean, all you can really do is pray,” he said.
There were questions early in the week about whether Mahomes, who has a history of ankle injuries, would play at all after he sustained a high ankle sprain late in last week’s win over Cleveland. But he was off the injury report by Friday, and he was on the field and leading the Chiefs to a touchdown on their opening possession.
His scramble for a score was merely the start of a back-and-forth first half.
The Texans answered with a 33-yard field goal, then went on a 13-play, 82-yard drive that ended with Stroud’s touchdown toss to Dalton Schutlz. But the Chiefs quickly regained the lead when Hunt barreled into the end zone, and they tacked on a field goal a few minutes later after Stroud’s second interception to lead 17-10 at the break.
Dell was hurt on the Texans’ opening drive of the third quarter. He was coming across the back of the end zone and made a spectacular catch but collided with teammate Jared Wayne on his way to the ground. He immediately grabbed his left knee, and players from both teams surrounded him as he was loaded onto a cart and driven from the field.
Ka’imi Fairbairn promptly missed the extra point, and any momentum Houston might’ve had disappeared.
Kansas City marched the other way, relying heavily on Worthy, who touched the ball four times on the drive. The first-round pick finished it off with an eight-yard reception, giving him a season high for receiving yards and his eighth touchdown of the year.
The teams matched fourth-quarter field goals, and the Texans took over trailing 27-19 with just over five minutes to go. But the Chiefs forced a three-and-out, getting a sack from Josh Williams on a cornerback blitz, and ran out the clock from there.
“This was a great test versus a really good playoff team,” Ryans said. “This was a playoff atmosphere here today. I thought our guys battled the right way. We just have to finish.”
