Reality: The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers meet again, with – as usual – a lot on the line.
Perception: This is still the best rivalry in football. It’s “Steelers Week” in Baltimore and both Charm City and Pittsburgh have been on edge leading up to one of their biggest games of the season. This game has a lot on the line, as both teams are fighting to not only find a way back to 1st place in the AFC North but also find a way back to the playoffs.
Garrett Downing of BaltimoreRavens.com even found that the “winner could move to 1st place in the AFC North this week,” and there is a “decent chance the loser drops to 4th”. So there is a lot to gain and a lot to lose Sunday night.
Since the start of the millennium, this rivalry has been featured prominently by the networks. These two teams have met in primetime in 12 years of the 19 year history of the rivalry. The last time they didn’t have at least one of their two regular season matchups in primetime was back in 2006.
Once again, they are on Sunday Night Football, even when the networks could have taken Peyton vs. Brady. But this series goes back just as long, and frankly has been better over the 19-year history than Peyton vs. Brady, Jets vs Patriots, and Cowboys vs. Redskins. Over the last couple of years a lot has been made of the Seahawks/49ers rivalry, but it still has a long way to go to have the history that Baltimore/Pittsburgh has.
What makes this rivalry so big is that these two teams literally hate each other. Yes, they respect each other, but as soon as they hit the field they have genuinely dislike for each other. Plus, these two squads are usually fighting for first place in the AFC North.
As far as TV is concerned, these teams make for good TV as they always play close games. Each of the last six regular season games between the two clubs played in Pittsburgh has been decided by three points. Plus, in those games both teams have scored the same amount of total points, 109.
Pittsburgh went through a time where they had won a few in a row, but the Ravens have won four of the last five meetings. All time, the Steelers lead the series 23-17.
Reality: Ben Roethlisberger has struggled recently against the Ravens defense.
Perception: Big Ben may have been great last week, but he has been anything but great against the Ravens recently. He has only one 300-yard passing game out of 15 matchups. Since 2011, he has just a 78.2 passer rating against the Ravens.
But, throw the numbers out… the Ravens still always struggle to defeat Roethlisberger and the Steelers. He always gives them a chance by the way he keeps plays going. Sometimes it feels that when the Ravens get pressure on Big Ben, he becomes even better. Think about all the hits that Ravens have put on his where he didn’t go down and got a first down.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said, “He’s big. He’s very strong, very hard to bring down. Nobody does the extended play thing better than Ben.”
The Ravens front seven should be able to get pressure on Roethlisberger Sunday night. However, if that pressure does not lead to sacks, Baltimore could be in for a long night, as the Ravens will be missing two of their top cornerbacks in Jimmy Smith and Asa Jackson. They only have three healthy CBs left and will need each of them to step up big to hold the Pittsburgh receivers in check.
The Steelers have the NFL’s third ranked offense and fourth ranked passing offense. That will be the key to the game… can the Ravens D hold the Steelers offense out of the end zone?
