There are NFL rivalries with much longer histories (Packers/Bears, Cowboys/Redskins, Chiefs/Raiders) but over the last 10 years the Steelers/Ravens have developed a compelling rivalry.

The second renewal will be this weekend in Baltimore with divisional/playoff implications galore. Let the discussion begin.

I hate Ravens fans with a passion. Go Steelers.

This game is going to be a bloodbath. The 2 best defenses and already bad blood. I was trying to figure out the tiebreakers the other day and it appears Pittsburgh could still lose this game and win division by beating Titans at home, but it's real close. They both lost to a few of the same teams and if Baltimore wins they will have a shot at division. With the Steeler protection problems I hope Ben emerges alive.

wait, wtf, why does this get a thread of it's own? Game's not till Sunday at 4:15? Is it just cause the matchup is supposed to be so intense?

The fact that there might be a death on the field when Ray Lewis attempts to forcibly remove Hines Ward's head makes it threadworthy IMO.

fk steelers. go ed reed and the ravens

This.

I normally hate these defensive games, but this could be epic brutal.

Because someone cares enough about the game to start a thread. That's how message boards work.

i dont know but its getting more attention than the saints/bears game thread which starts in 3 hours lol.

Start Leftwich to save Ben's life, imo.

J/K. I'm very worried about this game as the Steelers have struggled to get going on offence even against teams like the Patriots. Against the Cowboys, the Steelers took about 4 incomplete shots down the field before the one to Holmes and it caused the offense to stall in the first half. They need to run their dink and dunk no huddle offense against the Ravens that they seem to switch to in 4th quarters during games since it always seems to be effective.

Also, send Anthony Smith out on the first defensive series and start a fight to get him and some Ravens ejected. +EV for the Steelers, obv.

Hopefully all of this talk gets Harrison fired up enough to have another 5 sack, 3 FF, 2 int, 2 decapitation game.

I did this earlier. If Pittsburgh wins then they are ahead by 2 games with 2 to go and also have head-to-head so as everyone has said the Steelers are the division champs.

Assuming Baltimore wins:

- If they tie at 12-4 (both win out) then Pittsburgh wins the division.

They would have the same record (duh), be 1-1 head-to-head and 5-1 in the division, be 5-3 against common opponents. Pittsburgh would win the tiebreaker because their conference record in this scenario would be 10-2 while Baltimore would be 9-3. Basically it would come down to Pittsburgh losing to Philadelphia but beating Tennessee and Baltimore doing the opposite so the Steelers would have an extra conference win.

- If they tie at 11-5 (both win 1 of 2) then it depends on which team Pittsburgh loses to.

If they beat Tennessee and lose to Cleveland then Baltimore goes. After head-to-head, the next tie breaker is division so if the Steelers lose to the Browns they would be 4-2 in the division and Baltimore would win the division because they would be 5-1.

Assuming the Steelers beat Cleveland and lose to Tennessee then the division records are also tied. Against common opponents outside the division they would both be 4-4. If Baltimore loses to Jacksonville and beats the Cowboys to get to 11-5 then Pittsburgh would win the conference tiebreaker because they would be 9-3 and the Ravens would be 8-4.

If Baltimore beats Jacksonville and loses to Dallas then the next tiebreaker is strength of victory - the combined record of teams you beat. Throwing out the teams they beat that are the same, we have Pittsburgh having beaten Dallas, New England and San Diego and Baltimore having beaten Miami, Oakland and Philadelphia. The combined records of the three Steelers' teams is 22-18 (21-18 now, give Dallas a win over Baltimore as assumed). The combined record of the Ravens' teams is 18.5-20.5. So barring a tie in another game, this will be the clinching tiebreaker and the Steelers have a huge edge.

There are two games involving teams on both sides - New England at Oakland this week and Dallas at Philadelphia week 17. If the Ravens' teams, which are playing both at home, pull out wins then it will bring it to 22-20 for Pittsburgh and 20.5-20.5. That's pretty close. If it's even a split then it will go to 23-19 and 19.5-21.5 which is again a pretty big jump. If New England and Dallas win those games then it would go to 24-18 versus 18.5-22.5 which pretty much locks it up. Baltimore certainly has to do a lot of rooting in any case.

So basically if the Steelers beat the Browns and Baltimore loses either of its last two then Pittsburgh wins the division.

- If both lose their last two then Baltimore wins the division. This is basically just the Pittsburgh-loses-to-Cleveland scenario above.

So in short, to win the division Pittsburgh needs:
- to beat Baltimore OR
- to win their last two games OR
- to beat Cleveland, have Baltimore lose at least one of their last two games, and not get quite unlucky with the other results OR
- to beat Tennessee and have Baltimore lose both of their last two games.

Baltimore needs to beat Pittsburgh AND:
- win their last two games and have Pittsburgh lose at least one of theirs OR
- win one of their last two and have Pittsburgh lose to Cleveland OR
- win one, have Pittsburgh lose to Tennessee and luckbox big time in other games OR
- have Pittsburgh lose both of their final games.

James Harrison murders the Ravens (he had a brief stint in B'more but says he doesn't hold a grudge; the Steelers cut him three times).

I expect Harrison to be doubled most of the day and Woodley will have the big day.

The Steelers better play a lot of no-huddle.