The Baltimore Ravens ended the season strong, winning their 12th consecutive game and finishing with a 14-2 record, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-10.

With so many starters held out for this game, there wasn’t really much to take away from it. Making many judgments on how a bunch of backups functioned isn’t very fair to the entire team and how they’d normally play. However, we did learn a number of things thanks to the backups getting the job done that the Ravens can carry forward to the postseason.

Ravens backups are better than other teams’ starters

The Ravens got the job done on offense (four field goals and a rushing touchdown), defense (safety) and special teams (fumbled punt returned for a touchdown) in this game. In every capacity and every facet of the game, Baltimore’s backups beat up Pittsburgh’s starters.

Beating a division rival is impressive no matter how you slice it. But to have done it in spite of not playing most of the offensive starters and several defensive starters as well makes it even better.

The difference between an 8-8 team and a 10-6 team is pretty small — a few balls bouncing the wrong way or some flags at the wrong times. That makes beating any NFL team a difficult task, regardless of their record. And in 2019, no team has been better than the Ravens at it, even when they’re not at their best.

Considering Pittsburgh was on the verge of becoming a playoff team, the notion that Baltimore’s second-stringers are better than them should scare everyone else in the AFC playoffs.