(It’s a Special Wednesday edition of Flashback Friday…)
With the widespread COVID-19 cases within the Ravens locker room, coupled with the injuries to key players, the never-ending penalty log, and a sputtering offense? It seems like the Ravens Flock has already thrown in the towel for today’s game against the other (dirty) towels.
Listen, I get it. When you look at this Ravens team that was insanely successful during the 2019 regular season, only to see them struggle with a nearly identical cast in 2020, it’s hard to get your head in any sort of an optimistic space.
But folks…
This is the Ravens and the Steelers, where the notion of ‘Any Given Sunday’ looms large… though it takes on a new flavor now that the game has been moved to Wednesday.
We could go all the way back to Mike Tomlin ‘accidentally’ stepping onto the field during a Jacoby Jones kickoff return, but for now, let’s stick to the last five years of play as the litmus.
After starting the 2015 season 0-3 and losing all three games by one score, Joe Flacco led the Ravens to an overtime win in Pittsburgh in Week 4. Flacco would go on to tear his ACL… and then Ryan Mallet completed the sweep for Baltimore in Week 16.
Did we mention the strong support cast the Ravens had in 2015 with big name stars like Kamar Aiken, Jeremy Butler, Maxx Williams, Buck Allen and Terrance West?
Yea. That rag tag group took out the Steelers.
In 2016, the Ravens went on a four-game skid after starting 3-0, only to break their winless streak with a 21-14 victory against Pittsburgh. The unlikely hero here? Chris Moore with a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.
Fast forward to Week 4 of 2018, where the Ravens and Steelers were knotted up at 14 each coming out of halftime. The Ravens defense locked down Big Ben and the Pittsburgh offense, while Justin Tucker booted four straight field goals en route to a 26-14 win in Pittsburgh. The Ravens offense put up 451 yards against a Steelers defense that gave up the 6th fewest yards on the season.
Bet we didn’t see that one coming…
Naturally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Week 17 win last season for a Baltimore team that rested most of their key starters. The Ravens touted an Offensive Line comprising of mainly backups (much like we’ll see today), that spent the day opening holes for Gus Edwards and Justice Hill (again, we’ll see this tandem). The backfield duo combined for 169 yards and a rushing touchdown against a tough Steelers front seven.
Surely the Steelers have had their moments too, as I’m sure many of us remember Antonio Brown reaching over the goal line against Eric Weddle to win the game, T.J. Watt forcing a Flacco fumble to end a potential game winning drive in 2017, and hell, even the QB combo of Mason Rudolph & Devlin Hodges almost took out the Ravens last season.
But check this out…
Despite the change of cast over the years, since 2015, eight of the 11 regular season games between Baltimore and Pittsburgh have been one-score affairs (four wins each), and those other three games?
28-10 Ravens (2019, Week 17)
26-14 Ravens (2018, Week 4)
26-9 Steelers (2017, Week 4)
The Steelers haven’t ‘pounded’ the Ravens since 2017, and it’s the only time in the last 5+ seasons that it’s happened. The Ravens actually hold a 6-5 advantage in the win column during this stretch, while they’re 3-3 at Heinz Field, and yet?
So much pessimism surrounds this game.
Any notion that the Ravens have already lost this game is fools gold. Throw the records out, throw the COVID-19 excuses out, and give me those hungry bench bodies ready to shine in the fiercest rivalry in sports.
