Nobody drafted by the Baltimore Ravens since 2020 had ever beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers before, at least not until Sunday afternoon. They had lost four in a row to their divisional rivals spanning the previous two seasons but finally got back over the hump in their first match-up of the 2022 season.
And now those young players can finally feel free to breathe. But of course, it’s not just young players but anyone who was brought in since then. Even Pro Bowlers like Calais Campbell, who played a critical role in securing the Ravens’ victory with a blocked field goal in a 16-14 win.
“I’d been hearing it all week,” he told reporters after the game, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “’You’re not a Raven until you beat the Steelers’.”
Campbell once beat the Steelers twice in the same season as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017. He signed with the Ravens as a free agent in 2020, however, and Baltimore had not beaten them since then until Sunday’s game.
Likewise, starting running back J.K. Dobbins, a 2020 second-round pick, had never experienced a Steelers win before—even while on the Reserve/Injured List during his second season a year ago. He, too, breathed a sigh of relief in the aftermath.
“Officially. Finally,” he said in a post-game interview when asked if he finally feels like a Raven with a win over the Steelers. “It took three years, but it’s good to get a win here, in Pittsburgh. We’re gonna continue to build on this and keep getting better.”
The Steelers most recently defeated Baltimore in Week 17 last year in the finale, securing the win with an overtime field goal. They entered the fourth quarter trailing by four before Ben Roethlisberger connected with Chase Claypool for the go-ahead score. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker sent the game into overtime.
They also won earlier that year thanks to a storming come-from-behind effort, pulling ahead 20-19 with a 17-point fourth quarter, Roethlisberger finding Diontae Johnson twice for touchdowns. The second touchdown and subsequent two-point conversion actually put them up 20-13. Baltimore scored a touchdown with 12 seconds left and went for the win on a two-point conversion but failed, falling short by one point.
Pittsburgh only trailed briefly by one point in game 11 in 2020 but otherwise held a comfortable 19-14 victory over the Ravens in their second meeting that year, leading 19-7 for most of the fourth quarter. The first game that season took a game-winning drive ending in a Claypool touchdown pass from Roethlisberger midway through the fourth quarter to seal the deal.
They had their chances in this one but squandered them, including two interceptions in field goal territory. They had another field goal blocked. They pulled to within two with under three minutes to go but could not get a stop defensively for a shot at a game-winning drive.
