After suffering their first loss of the 2017 regular season on Sunday at Soldier Field to the Chicago Bears, the Pittsburgh Steelers have now started preparing to play the Baltimore Ravens this coming Sunday with that game taking place on the road at M&T Bank Stadium. Even though they’ll be the visiting team, the Steelers opened up as one-point road favorites over the 2-1 Ravens, who suffered their first loss of the season Sunday in London, England to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Ravens loss to the Jaguars included quarterback Joe Flacco getting pulled from the game at the end of the third quarter with Baltimore trailing 37-0. He finished the game with just 8 completions for 28 yards on 18 total attempts. He also threw two interceptions during the game.
Flacco, who missed all four of the Ravens preseason games this year due to a back problem, has now completed 42 of his 69 total pass attempts on the season for 366 yards with three touchdown passes and four interceptions. The Ravens quarterback has also been sacked five times so far in the team’s first three games.
While the Ravens defense played very well in their first two games of the season, Sunday in London they allowed Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles to complete 20 of his 31 total pass attempts in the game for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those four scoring tosses went to tight end Marcedes Lewis. The Ravens defense also failed to register a sack in their game against Jaguars after notching eight quarterback take-downs in their first two regular season games. The Jaguars offense also rushed for 166 yards against the Ravens defense in their big win.
To add insult to injury, the Ravens also suffered yet another key injury against the Jaguars as defensive end Brent Urban will now need surgery after suffering a Lisfranc foot injury in Sunday’s game. With Urban now sidelined, Ravens will now likely turn to second-year defensive end Bronson Kaufusi and/or third-round rookie Chris Wormley to take his spot in the defense. Kaufusi and Wormley have both yet to dress for a game this season.
The Steelers have lost their last four games to the Ravens in Baltimore with their last win in the Charmed City coming in December of 2012. That 23-20 win included then-Steelers-kicker Shaun Suisham hitting a 42-yard field goal as time expired. Charlie Batch was the Steelers quarterback in that game due to Ben Roethlisberger being sidelined with an injury. Batch completed 25 of his 36 total pass attempts in that game for 276 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Flacco, the losing quarterback in that game, completed 16 of his 34 total pass attempts for 188 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The Steelers defense also sacked Flacco three times in that game
The Steelers are 9-12 all-time against the Ravens in Baltimore dating back to 1996. Roethlisberger’s last win against the Ravens in Baltimore came in December of 2010.
Assuming Sunday’s game doesn’t ultimately end in a tie, the winner of this upcoming Week 4 division matchup will take control of the AFC North with a 3-1 record. The two teams won’t meet again until Week 14 of the regular season and that game will take place at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Since the line opened, the Steelers are now favored between 2.5 and 3-points over the Ravens.
