Anytime the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens get together, the stakes are raised. As is the intensity, the physicality, and every fan’s blood pressure. The first meeting of 2024 has more than just bragging rights on the line. The winner will assume control of the AFC North. A Steelers win will put them in the driver’s seat at 8-2, one-and-a-half games up on the Ravens with a game in-hand over them, with a victory that can’t be waved away by any pundit still not taking Pittsburgh seriously. Opining on this matchup, NFL Network’s Peter Schrager thinks it has all-time importance.
“Baltimore versus Pittsburgh, I will say this,” Schrager said on Friday’s Good Morning Football. “We have seen this 60 different times. I don’t know if there’s ever been a regular-season game bigger than this one.”
That may be prisoner of the moment and there’s other marquee matchups from the past. It’s one reason why the rivalry is so good. In 2010, the 8-3 Steelers met the 8-3 Ravens for a Week 13 Sunday night showdown. Pittsburgh came out on top 13-10, Troy Polamalu forcing a fumble on QB Joe Flacco that LaMarr Woodley recovered late in the fourth quarter. QB Ben Roethlisberger hit RB Isaac Redman a couple of plays later for the game-winning score.
That’s still regarded as one of the greatest Steelers-Ravens games of all-time, right up there with the 39-38 “Immaculate Extension” game years later. And in 2008, the 10-3 Steelers hosted the 9-4 Ravens. Another low-scoring slugfest, Pittsburgh won 13-9, Santonio Holmes just crossing the goal line on a scramble drill throw from Roethlisberger in the final minute.
But the stakes of Sunday’s game are up there. And if this game can be anything remotely close to those others, it’ll be the latest in a long line of memorable Steelers-Ravens battles.
While a Pittsburgh loss wouldn’t doom its chances for the season or the division, Schrager thinks the Steelers have little margin for error.
“This is a home game that I think is almost a must-win for these guys,” he said.
A bold take considering this is Pittsburgh’s first divisional game with a rematch against Baltimore in Week 16. But a loss would put the Ravens in first place and the latter matchup is in Baltimore. A win at home would be huge and give Pittsburgh true breathing room in the division. It’ll also set the tone for the first of four-straight divisional games that will test the Steelers’ stamina.
Regardless how you want to rank the game, it’s Steelers-Ravens. It’s always a five-star matchup. And all eyes will be on the outcome and what it says about each side.
