Veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson has been part of some great rivalry matchups throughout his career, including Cardinals-49ers, Cardinals-Seahawks, Cardinals-Rams and most recently Vikings-Packers.
Nothing can compare, at least for him from the outside looking in, to Steelers-Ravens.
Now, the 32-year-old cornerback gets to be part of the historic Steelers-Ravens rivalry as a member of the Black and Gold. That has him rather excited and looking forward to the Week 5 matchup at Acrisure Stadium in the 2023 season.
On his podcast “All Things Covered” with co-host and cousin Bryant McFadden, a former Steeler in his own right, Peterson talked about how much he’s looking forward to being on the defensive side of the football in a matchup between two teams that lean so heavily on their defenses.
“Obviously watching it [Steelers-Ravens] growing up, watching it while being in the league, that game is always a Sunday Night Football game and it’s always a meaningful football game,” Peterson said, according to video via the All Things Covered podcast’s YouTube page. “It’s always a low-scoring football game, it’s always a defensive football game.
“When me and my wife and kids were watching those games, they’d always be like ‘This is a boring football game’ and I’m like, ‘You gotta love this!’ As a defensive player, you want to be in those…situations, those ballgames.”
Historically, Steelers-Ravens has been a knockdown, drag-out matchup, and is usually in primetime on the NFL schedule. That wasn’t the case in 2022 though as many of the biggest names from the rivalry are now long gone with Ben Roethlisberger the last of the old guard to ride off into the sunset.
Steelers-Ravens used to be primetime television, often in that time slot on Sunday Night, Monday night or even Thursday night. Last season’s first matchup was only shown locally in the 1 PM/EST time slot with CBS’ non-A squad. No Jim Nantz, no Tony Romo. And most of the country was watching something else. That changed later in the season as the Steelers and Ravens were on Sunday Night Football after a flex into the time slot for Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth, but it’s lost some of its luster in recent seasons.
Though the intensity of the rivalry and some of the hype may have changed, its outcomes have not. Pittsburgh-Baltimore is still among the closest games in football. Over the last six meetings, dating back to 2020, no game has been decided by more than one possession. Seriously.
During that span, the Steelers, despite having won five of those six games, have only outscored the Ravens 113-99, an average of 2.2 points per game. Matchups in 2022 included a 16-14 Ravens win on Dec. 11, and a 16-13 Steelers win on New Year’s Day.
The games are almost always close, and it often comes down to the defensive side of the ball. Peterson will get his fill of Steelers-Ravens quickly as the two renew their rivalry in Week 5.
