{"id":377437,"date":"2025-12-30T14:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/377437\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:40:08","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-playoff-fate-tied-to-dk-metcalfs-two-game-suspension-and-a-detroit-lions-fan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/377437\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff fate tied to DK Metcalf’s two-game suspension and a Detroit Lions fan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trendy preseason pick to go far in the postseason, the Detroit Lions<\/a> won\u2019t be playing beyond Sunday at Soldier Field. One of their fans, however, continues to have a big impact on the NFL\u2019s playoff picture heading into the final weekend of the regular season.<\/p>\n

The league suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf<\/a> for the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>\u2019 final two games and levied a hefty fine against the team\u2019s best pass catcher for taking a swipe at Lions fan Ryan Kennedy in the second quarter of Pittsburgh\u2019s 29-24 victory two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Metcalf was sorely missed in the Steelers\u2019 13-6 loss at Cleveland on Sunday that set up a winner-take-all showdown between Pittsburgh (9-7) and the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> (8-8) this weekend. The winner wins the AFC North and gets to host a first-round playoff game. The losers clear out their lockers and pack for vacation.<\/p>\n

The same scenario is playing out in the NFC between the Carolina Panthers<\/a> (8-8) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> (7-9) with the winner claiming the NFC South title and a home playoff game against an NFC West team with a much better record.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rodgers<\/a> didn\u2019t find the end zone Sunday. On fourth-and-goal from the 7 with 21 seconds left, he targeted Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward<\/a> and threw incomplete to Marquez Valdes-Scantling<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was definitely interference,\u201d Rodgers complained of the bang-bang play.<\/p>\n

What Rodgers never saw on Pittsburgh\u2019s last-gasp play was running back Kenneth Gainwell<\/a> uncovered and wide open underneath for a touchdown that would have given the Steelers the chance to tie the game or win it with a 2-point conversion and clinch the division.<\/p>\n

The Steelers mustered just two field goals against Cleveland after averaging 28 points over their previous three games, all wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the biggest issue is they don\u2019t have DK Metcalf<\/a>,\u201d studio analyst Jason Garrett said on the pregame show for NBC\u2019s Sunday Night Football telecast. \u201cPittsburgh\u2019s been playing small-ball on offense all year long. They run it and the ball comes out of Aaron\u2019s hand quickly in all the short stuff. And then when they get a chance, 1-on-1, they throw it to DK Metcalf<\/a> and make an explosive play.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake him out of it, they\u2019re not very explosive,\u201d Garrett added. \u201dThey don\u2019t make big plays down the field and they don\u2019t score a lot of points.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, today they played like they still had him, trying to go to those 1-on-1 matchups,\u201d concurred fellow studio analyst Devin McCourty, who suggested the Steelers are better off getting the ball into the hands of running backs Gainwell and Jaylen Warren<\/a> than the patchwork receiving corps missing Metcalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the backs more involved will be the key for next week,\u201d McCourty predicted.<\/p>\n

Garrett also had some friendly advice for the Steelers as they prepare to keep up with Ravens running back Derrick Henry<\/a>, who\u2019s coming off a 216-yard, four-TD performance at Green Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, Baltimore watched the tape, so they\u2019re going to play man-to-man coverage,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cI think the biggest thing for Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, he has to get the receivers in stacks and bunches and motions to loosen up the tight man-to-man coverage to wriggle those guys free.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers find themselves in this precarious position because Metcalf lost his cool with the fan in Detroit, rendering him unavailable until next Monday \u2014 either in preparation for the playoffs or to clean out his locker.<\/p>\n

Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson said on a podcast last week that Metcalf told him Kennedy used a racial slur and verbally disparaged Metcalf\u2019s mother, an allegation that Kennedy denied through his attorneys.<\/p>\n

Coach Mike Tomlin said he didn\u2019t condone Metcalf\u2019s actions that led to his two-game ban but made clean Metcalf had his full support.<\/p>\n

Having his back is one thing. <\/p>\n

What Steelers Nation would certainly prefer is having Metcalf back on the field to extend their season.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n

Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trendy preseason pick to go far in the postseason, the Detroit Lions won\u2019t be playing beyond Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-377437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}