BALTIMORE (3-1) at PITTSBURGH (2-2)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS
OPENING LINE: Ravens by 4, according to FanDuel SportsBook.
AGAINST THE SPREAD: Ravens 3-1; Pittsburgh 2-2.
SERIES RECORD: Steelers lead 33-25.
LAST MEETING: Steelers beat Ravens 16-13 in Baltimore on Jan. 1, 2023.
LAST WEEK: Ravens beat Browns 28-3; Steelers lost to Texans 30-6.
RAVENS OFFENSE: OVERALL (13), RUSH (4), PASS (26), SCORING (12).
RAVENS DEFENSE: OVERALL (3), RUSH (7), PASS (3), SCORING (3).
STEELERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (29), RUSH (29), PASS (25), SCORING (25).
STEELERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (30), RUSH (26), PASS (29), SCORING (23).
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Ravens even; Steelers plus-3.
RAVENS PLAYER TO WATCH: LB Roquan Smith. The Ravens are rolling defensively and Smith is a big reason. He’s one of five defenders in the league with at least 35 tackles and a sack. Baltimore’s defense ranks No. 1 in the NFL in yards per play.
STEELERS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB Najee Harris. The third-year pro essentially called out his offensive teammates after Pittsburgh was whipped by the Texans. Harris said the offense was “soft” and needed to play with more of an edge. The Steelers have limited Harris’ touches early in the season to try to keep him fresh. With the bye week looming, may be time to give the ball to Harris as many times as necessary and worry about the consequences later.
KEY MATCHUP: Pittsburgh’s offensive line vs. Baltimore’s front seven. The Steelers ran for 198 yards against the Ravens on New Year’s Night, gashing Baltimore between the tackles. Baltimore was playing out the string then. The Ravens are in first place now and the swagger is back. If the Steelers want to calm the waters following a tumultuous first month, giving it to Harris until Baltimore proves it can stop it may be the way to go.
KEY INJURIES: Baltimore CB Marlon Humphrey (foot) practiced this week after missing the first four games, and so did WRs Odell Beckham Jr. (ankle) and Rashod Bateman (hamstring). … Ravens T Morgan Moses (shoulder) missed practice time along with LB Odafe Oweh (ankle). … T Ronnie Stanley (knee) and S Marcus Williams (pectoral) haven’t played since Week 1, but practiced this week for Baltimore. … Steelers QB Kenny Pickett sustained a bone bruise in his knee in the loss to Houston but is expected to play. LT Dan Moore Jr. (knee) will sit, giving first-round pick Broderick Jones his first start. TE Pat Freiermuth (hamstring) will is also out, meaning rookie TE Darnell Washington should get his most extended playing time. P Pressley Harvin (hamstring) could miss his second straight game. DE DeMarvin Leal spent a portion of the week in the concussion protocol.
SERIES NOTES: The rivalry remains one of the hardest-fought — not to mention tightest — in the AFC. Each of the past six meetings have been decided by five points or fewer, four of them by three points or fewer. The teams split last season, with each winning on the other’s home field. Pittsburgh holds a 7-3 advantage over Baltimore in games played during October.
STATS AND STUFF: Baltimore is 3-1 after four games for the 10th time in head coach John Harbaugh’s 16 seasons. The game is the middle section of a three-game road trip for the Ravens that concludes with a trip to London next week to face Tennessee. … Ravens RB Gus Edwards needs 25 yards rushing to move past Willis McGahee and into third on the franchise’s career rushing list. Edwards enters Sunday with 2,778 yards rushing. … Baltimore rookie WR Zay Flowers’ 24 receptions are the most by a Raven in the opening four games of a season. … Ravens K Justin Tucker needs one field goal of 50 yards or more to move into second on the NFL’s career list of field goals from at least 50 yards. Tucker has 58 such makes in his career. … QB Lamar Jackson’s .738 career winning percentage as a starter is second only to Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes among active quarterbacks. … Baltimore is on a franchise-record streak of 25 consecutive games with a sack. It’s also the longest active run in the NFL. … Jackson is second in the league in completion rate (74.3 percent) behind Buffalo’s Josh Allen. … The Ravens have scored 12 touchdowns in 15 red zone opportunities, the No. 1 success rate in the league. On defense, Baltimore has allowed only three TDs on 10 drives. … Jackson’s passer rating of 104.2 so far is his highest since his MVP season of 2019. He has a rating of 117.8 on third down. … The Steelers are reeling a bit after getting throttled by the Texans, but have been resilient under coach Mike Tomlin the week after getting blown out. Pittsburgh is 11-2 under Tomlin following losses of at least 20 points. The Steelers beat Cleveland 26-22 in Week 2 after San Francisco drilled them 30-7 in the opener. … Pittsburgh is 32-7 since 1970 in home games the week after losing on the road by at least 20 points. … Baltimore dominated the Browns last week and can take a pretty firm grasp on first in the AFC North with a win. … The Steelers have come as close as any team has to keeping Jackson in check. Jackson is just 2-3 against Pittsburgh, throwing for more interceptions (six) than touchdowns (four). He’s also had trouble running the ball against them. Jackson is averaging just 4.7 yards per rush and has yet to score a rushing touchdown against the Steelers. … Pittsburgh’s offensive numbers have not been pretty, ramping up the pressure on third-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The Steelers are last in the league in first downs and have been particularly ineffective early in games. Pittsburgh has four first downs and 121 yards in the first quarter so far in 2023, with 72 of them coming on a touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III against Las Vegas in Week 3. … Pickett is near the bottom of all quarterbacks in rating (29th), completion percentage (29th), yards (21st) and interceptions (T19th). … Pittsburgh OLB T.J. Watt was kept in check for the first time this season last week against Houston. He failed to get a sack for the first time and had just two tackles. The Ravens seem to bring out the best in the 2021 AP Defensive Player of the Year. Watt has 12 sacks in 12 games against Baltimore. … The Steelers’ run defense has essentially vanished with veteran defensive tackle Cam Heyward out indefinitely following groin surgery. Pittsburgh is giving up 148.5 yards per game on the ground and now has to face the NFL’s fourth-ranked rushing attack. … Ravens coach John Harbaugh won his 150th regular-season game last weekend.
FANTASY TIP: Ravens K Justin Tucker is never a bad idea. In a game that figures to feature a lot of field goals, Tucker could rack up the points. He’s made 55 of 57 field-goal attempts against the Steelers over his career, more than any other team by a significant margin. The occasionally swirling winds at Acrisure Stadium have hardly been an issue for perhaps the greatest kicker in the history of the league.
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