Week 9 Breakdown

Revenge Game


Nobody has forgot the week one whipping that the Steelers (6-2) took at the hands of the rat bird Baltimore Ravens (5-2) and I am sure the players remember it even more. The bragging rights for the Ravens are still out of reach for them as they must do something that they have NEVER done, sweep the Steelers in the regular season.

The Steelers rivalry is much deeper than any other rivalry in sports. Sure, people can argue the Bears and Packers or Yankees and Redsox, but no rivalry has this much hate. In the before mentioned rivalries and like most rivalries it is the fans that have the largest parts. It is not a shock to see players in other rivalries talking before games or joking around, with the Steelers they trash talk each other all season and fight constantly in their match-ups. This rivalry is much more seeded and has deeper roots than all others, hell, I won't allow any purple into my house.

Forgetting about the week one slamming, the Steelers have a great record against the Ravens posting a 21-13 record against them. At home the Steelers are an astonishing 13-5 and are 8-2 in their last ten games in Pittsburgh versus the Ravens. The last home meeting was a 31 to 24 win during the 2010 divisional playoffs.

Number wise the Steelers are improving. The Steelers offense is putting up more yards and seem to be getting much more fluid, now if they could only run more. The defense is far from that "old" bunch that we all seen earlier in the year and that could be because of the younger guys getting some playing time.

RAVENS SEASON STATS:
Joe Flacco- 141 of 262 1,751 yards 8 touchdowns 6 interceptions
*Flacco is 3-6 vs the Steelers, 1-4 in the Burgh

Ray Rice- 115 carries for 489 yards and 5 touchdowns
*Rice has two career 100 yard games against the Steelers.

Anquan Boldin- 34 catches for 539 yards and 2 touchdowns
*Ravens have no significant deep threat.

Defense- The Ravens are giving up a league leading 263.3 yards per game and a second best 15 points per game. They have recorded seven interceptions, three of those against the Steelers in week one and have pressured the quarterback getting to them 25 times.

INJURY REPORT
Doug Legursky- out; LaMarr Woodley- out; Emmanuel Sanders- out; James Farrior- questionable; Hines Ward- questionable; James Harrison- probable; Jonathan Scott- probable'

FINAL TAKE
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and it is going to be rather cold in the Burgh tonight when the Steelers look to avenge the early loss to the Ravens. The Steelers have no running game and well, your not going to run on the Ravens anyway. They need to keep Big Ben upright and since the addition of Max Starks that has been happening. Ben needs to limit turnovers which he hasn't been able to do turning the ball over at least once in 7 of 8 games this season. Despite that the Steelers are primed for a big primetime win.

STEELERS WIN- 24-16