The expectation for Week 16, David Ojabo said, was “warfare.” Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, sure, but wait as long as Ojabo had to be called into battle against the Pittsburgh Steelers — Saturday’s rivalry game was the outside linebacker’s first in his three years as a Raven — and emotions tend to heighten.

“You know how we feel about them boys and how they feel about us,” Ojabo said afterward. “So we just leave it all out there, man. That was the message for this whole game. Just empty the tank.”

With a 34-17 thumping of their AFC North nemeses at M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens did not necessarily win the war for the division. But they did win a battle they could hardly afford to lose. And their manner of victory was almost as important as the victory itself.

For stretches Saturday, the Ravens (10-5) embodied the team the rough-and-tumble Steelers had become during their dominant stretch in this rivalry, an irrepressible force that hits first and asks questions later.

The Ravens rushed for 220 yards, the most the Steelers have allowed since the Ravens rolled up 249 in 2021. The Ravens forced two turnovers, first by knocking down quarterback Russell Wilson short of the goal line and then by hitting him on a rollout before a pick six by cornerback Marlon Humphrey. The Ravens left Pittsburgh reeling in a way few opponents do — certainly not the recent-vintage Ravens, who’d lost four straight in the series and eight of the past nine meetings entering Saturday.

Said Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith: “I think they were controlling the line of scrimmage. We didn’t do a good job controlling the line of scrimmage today. Embarrassing, to say the least, how they ran, the way they ran the ball against us. So, like I said, you just have to control the line of scrimmage, and if you don’t, you have to win the turnover battle.”

And defensive lineman Cameron Heyward: “As a defense, we did not stop the run. When you do that, you can’t really control the game. As a defense, there were too many missed tackles, errors, and that’s just a combination for not winning this game.”

And coach Mike Tomlin: “We didn’t control the run game. We never did. When you don’t, you’ve got to do some splash plays or win the turnover battle in a significant way, and we didn’t do that, either.”

To the victors go the spoils. With the win, the Ravens clinched their third straight postseason berth and sixth in the seven seasons that quarterback Lamar Jackson has started. The Ravens also pulled even with the Steelers (10-5) in the AFC North, denying them a division crown in Baltimore and perhaps overtaking their inside track to a top-four playoff seed. According to The New York Times’ playoff simulator, the Ravens will enter the regular season’s final two weeks with about a 62% chance of repeating as AFC North champions.

Whoever awaits in the playoffs will have to contend with an explosive aerial attack, a much-improved pass defense and a uniquely soul-sucking weapon made for winter football. Running back Derrick Henry finished with 24 carries for 162 yards (6.8 per carry) on Saturday, but the Ravens delivered their statement of intent in the first quarter, when Henry had eight carries for 52 yards against an elite Steelers defensive front.

“You have to bring it every time you play these guys, but we don’t try to make it so much about the rivalry,” said Henry, who finished with seven “explosive” runs (10-plus yards), the single-game high for any player this season, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. “We try to focus on us and what we need to do. We know, if we play the way we know how, then we give ourselves a chance against anybody. They are a great team, have a great defense, a great offense, but we just had to focus on what we need to do to give ourselves the best chance to win.”

With the Steelers down a handful of starters along the defensive line (Larry Ogunjobi) and in the secondary (cornerback Donte Jackson, safety DeShon Elliott and eventually cornerback Joey Porter Jr.), the Ravens weren’t afraid to test Pittsburgh’s physicality.

Almost no team this season had run effectively or frequently from under center against the Steelers, who entered Saturday having allowed just 2.2 yards per carry and 11.4 yards per game, according to TruMedia. The Ravens had no such problems (or hesitation), finishing with 11 under-center carries for 55 yards. Out of shotgun and pistol formations, on which coordinator Todd Monken could weaponize Jackson’s run threat, they were even better, rushing 24 times for 168 yards.

“It starts right there with No. 22 [Henry],” coach John Harbaugh said. “That’s who it starts with. It also starts with the offensive line. Our offensive line played really great tonight. I thought our coaches did a great job scheming up the run game. Lamar had a lot of checks involved with that. So it was just [a] really well-executed run game.”

On defense, against a Steelers offense missing top wide receiver George Pickens, the Ravens were erratic. But they made the hits when they had to. Safety Ar’Darius Washington’s second-quarter tackle of Wilson at the Ravens’ 4 jarred the ball loose, and the defense’s recovery likely kept Pittsburgh from taking an early lead.

Early in the fourth quarter, two plays after a rare Jackson interception had imperiled a 24-17 lead, Ojabo watched as Wilson faked a handoff and rolled to his side. As Ojabo shed tight end MyCole Pruitt, he accelerated toward Wilson, one of the NFL’s least turnover-prone passers. Wilson rushed his pass to Pruitt in the flat as Ojabo flattened him, and the ball settled comfortably in cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s grasp. Thirty-seven yards later, Humphrey had his first career pick six and the Ravens had a decisive advantage.

“That one turnover could have been the difference,” said Jackson, referring to safety Minkah Fitzpatrick’s interception, the one stain on a 15-for-23 day with 207 yards passing and three touchdowns. “But shout-out to Marlo and the defense, because those guys [played] lights out all game.”

The Ravens’ mood afterward was not revelrous. Center Tyler Linderbaum copped to not even knowing whether the team had clinched a playoff berth. His focus had already moved to preparing for Wednesday’s game against the Houston Texans, the Ravens’ third in an 11-day span.

As the locker room emptied early Saturday night, Linderbaum mentioned how difficult it is to blow teams out. Yet there his Ravens were, having doubled up the Steelers in a pivotal divisional showdown. It was not a pretty win, Linderbaum acknowledged, nor does he expect any Ravens win to be pretty. But that was the point. Tenacity and toughness could be enough.

“This time of the year, it’s find a way to win, whether it’s by one point or 20 points,” Linderbaum said. “Our biggest concern is just finding a way to win. … The competition is going to get harder and harder, so it’s our job to go out there and do our jobs and don’t flinch.”