The Pittsburgh Steelers are kicking off their regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, but they still don’t know who exactly they’ll be going up against. Baltimore has already locked up the AFC’s No. 1 seed, and there’s a chance that the Ravens will decide to rest some of their starters for at least a portion of the game against Pittsburgh. John Harbaugh wasn’t sure what Baltimore’s plan was going to be when asked on Monday, and the Steelers are preparing for Baltimore to bring their best on Saturday, according to offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner.
“You’ve got to prepare as if they’re all playing. That’s the only way to do it. If they don’t show up in stadium, they don’t show up. How differently? We know them. They know us. You hear Mike T say that all the time. I would say that they schematically are more of a complicated group, they always have been, with things they can do with bringing pressure and different personnels, particularly on possession downs. So we’ve got to be prepared for it, and we will be. Whatever happens in the stadium, we’ll execute based on what they’re giving us,” Faulkner said via transcript provided by the team.
He added that the Steelers are preparing as if “every stud” Baltimore has will suit up at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday.
The Ravens clinching a No. 1 seed means they have a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. If they choose to rest starters, that’ll be two weeks some guys go without seeing the field outside of practice. It’s a long layoff and it could lead to rust at this point in the season. At the same time, Harbaugh and the Ravens have to weigh the potential for rust versus the potential for someone important to suffer an injury in what boils down to a meaningless game outside of the fact it’s a Steelers-Ravens rivalry game.
We’ll likely find out in the next day or two how Baltimore is planning on approaching the game, but if the Ravens do decide to play their starters, the Steelers will be prepared. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, and it doesn’t make much sense for the Steelers to just assume Baltimore will rest guys.
It does seem clear that some guys who are battling injuries likely won’t suit up. That includes star safety Kyle Hamilton despite the fact that they might be healthy enough to go this week after suffering an injury in Week 16. But it’ll be interesting to see how Baltimore handles its healthy starters. They could opt to play guys for a half and then sit them, but if they have a lead on Pittsburgh, will they really make that decision and potentially lose a rivalry game and give themselves less of a chance to play spoiler against their biggest rival?
We’ll see what the Ravens plan to do, but either way the Steelers are going to be prepared. It’s always a fight against the Ravens no matter who is on the field, so both sides need to be ready.
