Steelers at Ravens Preview

After going down to the wire in their week one games, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have a quick turnaround this week as they play the Thursday Night Football game. It came as no surprise when the NFL schedule was announced that these two teams would be facing off on national television as there is an intense rivalry between the two.

Player to Watch (Pittsburgh): Le’Veon Bell

Last season the Steelers didn’t run the ball very effectively and it hurt their offense. This allowed teams to be able to sit back and play the pass. This offseason a focus was put on the run game in an effort to have a more balanced attack on offense. Bell––who was the Steelers second round pick last year––struggled as a rookie, but impressed in week one against the Browns. On 21 carries, he gained 109 yards (an average of 5.2 yards per carry) and scored one touchdown. As a receiver he caught six passes for 88 yards. Overall, his performance against a pretty good Cleveland defense was great and helped the Steelers jump out to a massive early lead. Against the Ravens last year he ran the ball 35 times for 166 yards and one touchdown (an average of 4.74 yards per carry) and caught eight passes for 69 yards. Games between Pittsburgh and Baltimore are always very physical. If a team can gain an advantage running the ball, they will have a very good chance at winning the game. Bell is the player who can do this.

Player to Watch (Baltimore): Terrell Suggs

No player embodies the Steelers-Ravens rivalry quite like Suggs. This week he has worn a shirt that depicted Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin in front of Jacoby Jones from last season when the two teams played and Tomlin got in the way of Jones on a kickoff return. The shirt reads “We will never forget, the North remembers.” He has worn shirts like this before, with the memorable “You bet your sweet ass I hate the Steelers!” shirt a few years ago. On to the game, Suggs always brings his best when facing Pittsburgh. No other player has as many sacks of Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger than Suggs. Pittsburgh’s offensive line has been weak in recent years, but it is improving. Offensive tackles Kelvin Beachum and Marcus Gilbert will be tasked with blocking the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Against the Bengals last week the Ravens failed to produce a pass rush––not even a quarterback hit. Baltimore will need to produce a pass rush this week if they are to get their first win of the season.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 20 Baltimore 17

Baltimore is reeling from a major controversy with Ray Rice while playing on a short week. This has the potential for disaster, but the team will want to come out and make a statement with their play. However, their performance last week against Cincinnati wasn’t very good and there may not be enough time in this short week to fix it, especially with the Rice controversy playing out. Expect Pittsburgh to come out on top in a closely fought––as always––game.