Sunday Afternoon – Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

An early season clash of AFC North rivals on Sunday afternoon? Don’t mind if I do… Things are always heated when the Ravens and Steelers meet, it’s just some good, old-fashioned smashmouth football. Even though the 2017 season is young, this contest should be no different. Baltimore will be looking to redeem themselves from a 2016 season where they missed the playoffs while Pittsburgh will be doing their best to get back to the postseason.

Keys to the Game

Steelers

Pittsburgh’s offense is so good that I don’t think they need to do a whole lot more than just play their game. Between Big Ben, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, the Steelers offense is an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses and that’s before mixing in guys like DeAngelo Williams, Martavis Bryant and Sammie Coates. Frankly, Baltimore doesn’t have the offensive personnel to match these guys score for score, so as long as the offensive machine keeps plugging away, the Steelers won’t have too much to worry about here.

Ravens

Baltimore is going to have their work cut out for them here, but they do have 2 things going for them: this game is in Baltimore and it’s a division rival. These divisional games are always close because of the familiarity between the teams. The Ravens defense will really need to step up, though. Safety Eric Weddle will have to lead the charge along with 1st-round pick Marlon Humphrey at corner. If they can get under Big Ben’s skin and slow that Steeler offense a tick or two, Joe Flacco will be able to work some of his old magic and hand their old Pittsburgh pals an early season loss.