Thursday features a good old-fashioned NFC North drop down, drag 'em out, rivalry for the ages. The epic matchup everyone wants to see...Steelers- Ravens. Not gonna say I really have a like for either of these squads, but this could be a close game. Notice I was very careful in my wording and did not say "good" game. Good and close are not always necessarily the same, see?
Look, the Steelers almost lost on Sunday. At home. After leading 27-3. AGAINST THE BROWNS! Now the Steelers did manage to not lose that game, avoiding scathing embarrassment for all the land to see. Well, there was also this:
Sure, it did give many people that first "OOOOOOHHHHH!" moment of the season and yes, I did watch this GIF about 37 times on Monday morning, but it in the end it is kind of sad. I mean, really? Really, Antonio Brown?! What was the thought process here? Brown leapt from like five yards away! Did he think he could hurdle Spencer Lanning from that distance or was it just about time that a prima donna NFL punter (non Pro-Bowl edition) finally got his comeuppance? "Now you know how the ball feels, SPENCER!" Well, either way it did lead to this being made, so in a way, everyone wins. Plus, Ray Rice's video and ensuing dismissal, pretty much overshadowed this anyway, so looks like everything's coming up Antonio!
On the other side of the coin, the off field embarrassment, borderline disgrace or however you want to label it, surrounding the Ravens organization, thanks to the whole Ray Rice saga (don't worry I'm sure you'll hear little about the story before, during or after the game on Thursday), does distract people from the Ravens on field embarrassment. Embarrassment too harsh? I mean they lost by seven, but they made some decent blunders to get there. Harsh or not, they lost, deal with it, alright?
I don't think either of these squads is all that good, but they may not be atrocious. That's as rave a review as I will give 'em. I mean, generally I think both teams tend to be overrated based on past successes, but that is history, folks. Like I said this may be a close, close game and I stand by that. In fact, the last five contests between these two squads have been decided by three points or less. Not only that, but 11 of the last 13 matchups between these two teams have been decided by a touchdown or less. Other than that, there is not much that stands out as far as historical data. I mean the Ravens have won four of the last six, but at M&T Stadium, they are only 8-8 all-time against the Steelers and if you count there games at Memorial Stadium that home record moves to 9-9 against Pittsburgh. So, really no sort of home field advantage here. I think Big Ben and the Steelers come out of this slobberknocker with the victory, Steelers 20-17.
Godspeed!
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