The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens have arguably the fiercest rivalry in the NFL. Their games may not be as bloody as they once were, but they’re just as physical. This year, it seems that intensity could go up a notch or two.
Ravens corner Marlon Humphrey recently said on his podcast that current Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen better be ready for a tough game due to some of the comments he’s made this offseason.
“What he doesn’t realize is, what he’s done, he better buckle up,” Humphrey said. “Better buckle up, pal.”
Queen was with the Ravens from 2020-23, really blossoming last year as he was named a Second-Team All-Pro. This offseason, he signed a lucrative deal with the Steelers, and then proceeded to stoke the fires of the rivalry between the two teams even more. Humphrey and Queen have had a friendly but competitive verbal jousting match throughout the offseason, and it seems that’s going to continue.
For what it’s worth, it sounds like Humphrey is mostly joking when he talks about Queen here. That’s probably because Humphrey and Queen play on the same side of the ball, and therefore, it’s not like Humphrey can really do anything to him. It will be more on the Ravens offense to make Queen buckle up.
Humphrey even says on that same episode that he can’t really hate Queen because that’s his guy.
“My hate for offensive players has a higher rating than my ability to be able to hate on a guy that’s my guy, even though he’s on my rival. Hating on my guy is like, can’t do that.”
It just seems like more friendly banter between Queen and Humphrey, but when the game actually comes around, it may become more serious. Those two defenders may be friendly, but it’s unclear if the Ravens offense will be as kind. As with any Ravens and Steelers game, emotions will be high.
Unfortunately, the Steelers and Ravens don’t play each other until Week 11 and Week 16, so it’ll be a while before any tension gets resolved on the field. Hopefully everyone is healthy for those games, too. What a letdown it would be if by the time those games came around, Queen or another important player was out.
Games between the Steelers and Ravens are always at their best when those two teams are competitive, so hopefully they’ll both have decent records at that point. No matter what, it’s always good football when those two franchises line up against each other. This year should be more of the same.
