Before the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks became the top rivalry in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers held the title for a very long time, and still remain one of the best rivalries in the game. The two teams will renew their rivalry this year when they play on Thursday Night Football.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens, Thursday, September 11, 8:25 PM. ET. CBS/NFL Network.
Although players like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Marvin Harrison are no longer playing, the rivalry is still going strong, which was evident by the two games that they played against each other last season. Both teams split the meetings in 2013, just like they did in 2012, with neither team winning by more than three points, so don’t be surprised if they do the same this season.
After losing a lot of players last year and finishing 8-8, the Ravens were hoping to get back into the playoffs, and signed players like Steve Smith and Justin Forsett, while drafting players like C.J. Mosley. The indefinite suspension of Ray Rice put a damper on their plans, but they will be fine if Forsett plays as well as he did in week 1, and Bernard Pierce can contribute like he did last season.
Baltimore should be able to rack up yards on the ground against the Steelers, who gave up 183 yards when they played Cleveland on Sunday.
Joe Flacco didn’t play very well last year, mainly because he didn’t have a lot of receiving help, tight end Dennis Pitta was hurt for the whole season, and receiver Anquan Boldin was traded to the 49ers, which left them thin at a very important position. Pitta is healthy this year, and Steve Smith played very well against the Bengals, so the passing game shouldn’t have a problem this season.
After going through back to back 8-8 seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers are healthy, and feel they have enough talent to make a playoff run this year, and another win against a division rival will take them one step closer to their goal.
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 365 yards against the Browns on Sunday, and will try to exploit the holes in the Baltimore’s secondary, which has shown that it is susceptible to big plays. Le’veon Bell will also try to duplicate his performance on Sunday, when he ran for 109 yards on 21 carries, but he will have a tougher time against the Ravens, because the Ravens run defense played well against Cincinnati, holding the team to 79 yards on 26 carries, for an average of 3 yards per carry.
Game line: The Ravens are favored to win this game by 2.5 points.
Personal Pick: Because both teams know each other so well, expect this to be another close game that will be decided by a field goal, the Ravens have the better kicker, so I will go with them for the win.