The Ravens vs Steelers rivalry will be rekindled on Sunday at the M&T Bank Stadium. Fresh in the mind of Pittsburgh Steelers is the week 4 loss to the Ravens. In a streak not new to the Steelers, despite tying at 14 at halftime, they ended up on the losing side with Justin Tucker coming through with all the points in the final two quarters from 4 field goals. Pittsburgh are 1-5 in their last six meetings with the Ravens and must look to improve their 3 game winning streak if they are to keep pace in AFC North. The Steelers haven’t lost on the road since September 2017 and their week 8 game ended in a 33-18 victory over the Cleveland Browns. RB James Conner has 922 scrimmage yards on the year, the second highest in franchise history over the first 7 games of a season. The 23-year-old has been impressive for the Steelers in the absence of Le’Veon Bell. He rushed for 146 yards and 2 TDs against the Browns – the third successive game in which he has had over a 100-plus rushing yards.

Defensively the Steelers are allowing 380.2 yards per game and 25.7 points as Jon Bostic leads with 41 tackles while Cameron Sutton has one interception and T.J. Watt has seven sacks. Offensively, Ben Roethlisberger has 2 or more TD passes in 12 of his last 16 games and is completing 65.3% of his passes for 2,290 yards, 14 TDs and 7 interceptions. Combined, Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster have 1,146 receiving yards and 10 TDs with James Conner on 331 receptions.

It looks like the Ravens are desperately in need of the upcoming week 10 bye having lost 3 of their last 4 games. A break may be necessary to rest sore muscles and find new motivation for the games ahead. The Ravens are coming off a 36-21 loss to Carolina in week 8. Quarterback Joe Flacco was picked off twice and threw for only 192 yards in a flailing team performance. Joe is completing 61.15 of his passes for 2,259 yards, 12 TDs and 6 interceptions. The teams ground game is averaging 96.6 yards per contest while Alex Collins leads with 358 yards and 5 TDs. Combined, Michael Crabtree and John Brown have 1,026 receiving yards and 6 TDs. The Ravens are allowing 14.4 points and 280.6 yards per game while Brandon Carr has one interception, Za’Darius Smith has 5.5 sacks and C.J. Mosley leads the team with 53 tackles. The Ravens are 5-1 ATS in their past 6 games when coming off a loss and a highly ranked defence on paper which unfortunately has been caving under pressure recently. The defence has given up 6 TDs and 4 field goals in the last 13 drives from opponents. That will need to tighten up if they are avoid a fourth loss in 5 games.

Team News

Alex Lewis, Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley, James Hurst and Bradley Bozeman are all questionable for this game. Bam Bradley is still healing from a torn ACL and is unlikely to be ready. CB Maurice Canady has a thigh injury and will miss up to 8 weeks of action.

Marcus Gilbert and Coty Sensabaugh are questionable due to knee and foot injuries respectively while QB Ben Roethlisberger is likely to be available despite a left hand index finger injury. Ryan Shazier has had a spinal stabilisation surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Verdict

The Steelers have won 3 of the last games against the Ravens are in the better form leading up to this match up. The Raven defence looks like its leaking and their offence is stuttering. Pittsburgh Steelers should run out victors here.