“I think it’s the best rivalry in football, if you ask me”.
That’s what Baltimore Ravens ILB Roquan Smith said of the games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, of which he has been a part of two. The former first-round pick was acquired by the Ravens via trade during the 2022 season, but it didn’t take him long to get warmed to the rivalry. One of the first things he was told is that beating Pittsburgh is a rite of passage. And for him, it’s an annual membership fee.
“I remember last year; you’re not a Raven until you beat the Steelers. I carry that over into this year, as well”, he said. “I feel like this season is a totally new season, so I’m not a Raven this season until I beat the Steelers. That’s my mindset, that’s me going through my preparation week in and week out”.
It didn’t take Smith long to become a Raven. They beat the Steelers in his fifth game after the trade, during which he recorded an interception, a pass defensed, and a sack—the sack that caused QB Kenny Pickett to suffer a concussion.
While Pickett didn’t finish that game (and didn’t play the next week), he will be playing today after dealing with a knee injury suffered last Sunday. It’s hard to say exactly how much that will affect his ability, particularly his mobility—which is significant given his tendency to flush out of the pocket.
That game was in Pittsburgh, too, so he’s already won here. He knows what that feels like when the Ravens coming into town and get a victory on enemy soil. He wants to get that under his belt right away—yet another pelt in the AFC North, as they’ve already beaten the Bengals in Cincinnati and the Browns in Cleveland.
“It’s definitely a great setup to start the year off 3-0 in the division”, he said. But if the Steelers win, they will be 2-0 in the division and would have control of the AFC North, so Baltimore can’t afford to slip up, even if it is still in the early goings of the season.
“Honestly, I don’t think any guys need any pep talks for this week, because [we know] the Steelers dislike us, and we know that they’re preaching physicality over there, as well, and we’re preaching something very similar to that”, Smith said.
And that’s fine, because there was a little bit too much mutual admiration going on there for a while. We don’t need fistfights, but it was getting too friendly for the taste of many fans. That’s not what built this rivalry, quite frankly. It was the intensity driven by the genuine rivalry.
“I have great intentions when we go over there for sure”, Smith said. “It’s Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh. We wouldn’t like it any other way”.
