Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsurgh Steelers: Previews, Predictions, Betting Odds

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

Joe Flacco vs. Ben Roethlisberger. 5-3 vs. 5-3. (Oh… and 26-6).

Many have looked at the Ravens as a powerhouse this season and the Steelers as a weaker franchise, and maybe that’s the case. It certainly looked that way in Week 2, when the Ravens took home an overwhelming win over their Pennsylvania rivals. These two teams are coming in with identical records, though, and the so-called almighty Baltimore franchise is going to be recovering from an expected but rattling nonetheless loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday. Anyone’s game here, folks.

Details for Sunday’s game are below:

Date: Sunday, Nov. 2nd
Time: 8:30 p.m. (EST)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Stadium: Heinz Field
TV Info: NBC
Ticket Info: For Pittsburgh Steelers ticket information, click here. For Baltimore Ravens ticket information, click here.

Keys to Victory:

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going into this game as the underdog for no real reason other than that they have a weaker defense this year, while Baltimore has looked pretty strong in that aspect of the game. If you compare Flacco to Roethlisberger, you really don’t see a clear-cut winner this week, so expect this game to go back and forth from the first quarter on.

In order for the Steelers to bring home the win, they’ll need to elevate their defensive play to meet Flacco and his offensive on their rushes. The Ravens are undefeated in games where they’ve favored rushes over passing yards, and Pittsburgh will need to capitalize on that- we’ve seen them taking advantage of defensive turnovers in recent weeks, which is something they might want to think about maintaining in order to bring home a win this week.

They say history repeats itself, though, and Baltimore will want nothing more than to overcome last weeks last-minute loss to Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals. If the franchise can forget about their offensive injuries and focus on shutting down Pittsburgh early, this could very well be their game. They can’t go off their guard for even a second, though- as Houston found out two weeks ago, the Steelers don’t mind storming back and blowing past the opposition.

Betting Info:

Point Spread: EVEN
Moneyline: 0
O/U: 48

Prediction:

If Baltimore loses their cool over dropping to a 5-3 record, this game could end up going the other way around, but I’ll give the Ravens the benefit of the doubt this game. The Steelers won’t make this an easy win, but I think that they’re just a little below where they need to be to push ahead to a 6-3 record. My final guess is that this will be a close call, but ultimately Baltimore is going to walk away with it.