Things didn’t go well in Week 15 for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they went on the road to Philadelphia and were thoroughly beaten by the Eagles. None of that matters now. All the attention shifts to Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens in a pivotal AFC North showdown.
Entering the Week 16 matchup against the Ravens, the Steelers can achieve one of their ultimate goals of the season — winning the AFC North. To do so, they’ll need to knock off the Ravens once again.
Pittsburgh did just that back in Week 11, but a lot has changed since then.
For Steelers star defensive lineman and team captain Cameron Heyward, it all comes down to Saturday.
“This is the game. This is the game. It’s one of our biggest rivals,” Heyward said on the latest episode of his Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “Everybody’s fighting for this one spot. We want the AFC North crown.
“You gotta beat the guys who’ve already had it. And they had it last time. And man, it’s gonna be fun to go there.”
The last time the Steelers and Ravens met in Week 11, the highly anticipated showdown was at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers pulled off a thrilling 18-16 win over the Ravens in a game that wasn’t exactly as close as the final score likely indicated.
This time, it could be very different. The Steelers are banged up with T.J. Watt, George Pickens, DeShon Elliott, Donte Jackson, Larry Ogunjobi and more appearing on their injury report this week while the Ravens are largely healthy, outside of Rashod Bateman and Odafe Oweh appearing on their injury report Wednesday.
There will be no excuses with injuries as the Steelers won’t make them. They know the Ravens well, and vice versa, and the Steelers have plenty of depth to work with in case of injury. It’s late in the season and everyone is banged up, though the Ravens do have a bit of an advantage due to having a bye week in Week 14, while the Steelers have been behind the 8-ball from a scheduling standpoint since their Week 9 bye.
All that goes out the window on Saturday though. It’s a rivalry matchup, one that will be intense and one that has a great deal on the line. If the Steelers win, they get the coveted hats and T-shirts for winning the division, all while securing a top-four seed in the AFC playoffs. If they lose, they need to win out, beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals — assuming the Ravens win out as well — just to get the division title via tiebreaker.
It’s all there for the taking on Saturday, and that’s where the focus is for the Black and Gold. Everything they’ve been working for since April and May in OTAs is right there. This is the game.
Hopefully they’re ready for it from the jump and don’t need to warm up to it.
Check out the full episode of the Not Just Football with Cam Heyward podcast below.
