Heading into Week 16, Marlon Humphrey had a message he desperately wanted to get into the heads of his fellow Baltimore Ravens: beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That's right, in his media session for the week, Humphrey was quick with the facts, noting that the Steelers were 1-8 in their last nine contests and if the Ravens were going to make waves in the playoffs, they would first need to beat their archrivals and even things up at the top of the AFC North.
Fortunately for Humphrey, he got his wish, setting the official record to 2-8 over the past ten games and knocking the Steelers out of sole possession of first place in the division. Asked during his Week 17 media session how he felt about the win, Humphrey declared that he was over the moon, noting that he's finally happy to remove the black cloud hanging over Baltimore's heads.
“Man, it's huge,” Humphrey told reporters. “I think [the Steelers have] definitely gotten the best of us over the years, and I feel like we haven't played good football, let alone – and not even close to – great football. Not that we played the greatest today, but I felt that we did not do the things we usually do that kind of beat ourselves. So, to clinch [the playoffs] against the Steelers, there's not a better feeling.”
Interesting stuff, right? Well wait, it gets better, as Humphrey had plenty more to say on the matter.
Marlon Humphrey wanted to beat the Steelers with his pick-6
Related Baltimore Ravens NewsArticle continues below
While securing the win was obviously nice for Humphrey, he did quite a bit to make sure it happened, ripping off a huge pick-6 to more or less seal the win on Saturday. Asked about that play, Humphrey broke it down, noting that he knew what Russell Wilson was going to do and jumped the route to help his team secure the win.
“I was right there by the guy, and ‘Russ' [Russell Wilson] kind of threw it to me, and I was running … And I want to make this pretty clear: When I was running with the football, I saw David Ojabo, a really great teammate of mine, and I was trying to pitch him the football,” Humphrey told reporters. “Some people brought up to me that it looked like taunting or something, but I was trying to pitch him the football, and there's no taunting there at all; I just want to make that very clear. Ojabo is a great guy. I wanted to pitch it to him. Then I got in the end zone, and it was good.”
Asked if he felt the play served as a momentum swing in the game, Humphrey said yes, noting that the defense knew it was on them to get the ball back, and he took his shot accordingly.
“Yes. Actually, right before we went out, we were talking about, ‘Let's get the ball back on defense.' That was kind of the conversation we were having on the field,” Humphrey said. “And to be able to get the ball back [and] really die out that momentum, it was a good time for somebody to make a play.”
Would the Ravens have still won the game if Humphrey just got a pick but didn't score, or even if dropped the ball incomplete? It's impossible to say, but after spending the week talking up his desire to secure the win, Humphrey has to feel darn good about the results.
