Cheat Sheet: Steelers at Ravens

SERIES HISTORY

This fantastic rivalry started in 1996 when the Browns moved from Cleveland to Baltimore and became the Ravens. Since then, Pittsburgh leads the series 36-25, including four playoff matchups. In the playoffs, the Steelers have lost just once against Baltimore. Pittsburgh won six of the first seven meetings. The Steelers also have won eight of the last nine games. The Steelers have swept Baltimore in three of the past four seasons and look to do so again after winning at home earlier this season. Mike Tomlin is 22-16 against the Ravens. John Harbaugh is 15-21 against Pittsburgh. Tomlin and Harbaugh's 36 meetings is the second-most between head coaches in NFL history.

MATCHUP OVERVIEW

• Baltimore is 9-5 with a win over the Giants coming out of their bye. They are 4-2 at home and 2-2 in the AFC North. Pittsburgh has a one-game lead in the division at 10-4. The Steelers are 5-3 away from Pittsburgh after their Week 15 loss in Philadelphia. One more win would secure the Ravens a playoff spot, something Pittsburgh earned last week.
• Baltimore is 1-4 against the Steelers with Lamar Jackson as its starting quarterback. In those games, Baltimore has produced 19 points per game. Against all other opponents, the Jackson-led Ravens produce 29.1.
• Jackson is 12-0 as a starter in games played in Week 15 or later. He is also 12-3 since 2023 against teams that enter with a winning record, best in the league.
• Tomlin is 64-36 in his career in games following a loss, fourth-best all-time among coaches with at least 50 such games.
• The Ravens have outscored their opponents by 86 points. Pittsburgh is plus-71 in point differential.
• In their 56 regular season matchups, these two teams are only separated by 37 points. Since 2008, 27 of their 33 meetings have been decided by one score (most in NFL), including the most recent matchup, a two-point Steelers victory.
• Pittsburgh was plus-2 in turnover differential the first time around between these teams and the Steelers' plus-18 differential is still tied with Buffalo for best in the league. The Ravens are at plus-2. Pittsburgh's 30 takeaways are the most in the league. The Ravens have 12. Only the Vikings and Texans have more than Pittsburgh's 15 interceptions and the Steelers' 15 fumble recoveries also leads the league. Baltimore only has 10 giveaways while the Steelers have 12. Pittsburgh has thrown four interceptions. The Ravens have thrown three.
• The Steelers possessed the ball for 36:22 when these teams last met, with Pittsburgh running 20 more plays than Baltimore. The Steelers only ran 11 offensive plays in the second half of last week's loss in Philadelphia and finished the game with 20:08 time of possession. Pittsburgh's 43 offensive plays run last week were tied for fewest by any team in a game this season. Still, Pittsburgh averages 31:36 time of possession. Baltimore stands at 30:24 for the season.
• The Ravens committed 12 penalties for 80 yards in Week 11. Last week, they also committed 12 penalties, but for 112 yards. Baltimore has committed 117 accepted penalties, most in the league, as is their 997 penalty yards. The Steelers are at 90 and 749 respectively.
• The Ravens have produced 15 more touchdowns, 115 more rush attempts, 1,368 more rushing yards, 67 more rushing first downs, 2.2 more yards per rush attempt, 1.4 more yards per pass attempt, 10 more passing touchdowns and 22 more sacks than they have allowed.
• Anthony Richardson (14.1) and Jordan Love (13.1) are the only quarterbacks with a higher yards per completion than Lamar Jackson (13.0). Russell Wilson is fifth (12.6).
• Baltimore allows 80.7 rushing yards per game. Pittsburgh is at 94.4. That is first- and fourth-best respectively. The Ravens are also first in yards per rush allowed (3.5) while Pittsburgh is fifth (4.0). In terms of average yards allowed before first contact, the Steelers defense is tied for fourth (1.09) while Baltimore is sixth (1.10). The top three defenses that see the highest percentage of runs between the tackles are San Francisco (56.5%), Baltimore (54.5%) and Pittsburgh (51.4%).
• Pittsburgh starts its average drive at the 32.2-yard line. Only the Bills start with better field position.
• On a per drive basis, no offense produces field goals at a higher rate (.25 field goals per drive) than Pittsburgh. On the flip side, the Steelers' defensive drives result in a field goal at a .12 rate, the lowest in the league.
• Baltimore (74.1%) has the NFL's best red zone offense. Pittsburgh is at 45.8%.
• For the entire 2024 schedule, the Ravens have 16 more days of rest than their opponents, the greatest rest advantage since 1990 when this began to be tracked, but likely the largest of the Super Bowl era.
• The six lowest pass play percentages belong to the Eagles (43.7%), Packers (48.8%), Steelers (48.9%), Ravens (49.4%), Commanders (50.5%) and Lions (52.3%). Their collective record is 62-22. The 11-3 Bills (52.9%) are eighth, with the 6-8 49ers (52.8%) wedged in at seven.

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• Pittsburgh's offense averages 5.1 yards per play. The Steelers averaged 4.0 yards per play in Philadelphia, but still average 5.6 over their past three games. The Ravens allow 5.3, but 4.4 over their past three after allowing 3.9 in New York.
• The Ravens' opponents are throwing the ball at a 63.8% rate, second-highest in the league.
• The Steelers employ 13 Personnel on 16.3% of their snaps, the highest rate in the league. In turn, their 47.2% usage of 11 Personnel ranks 27^th.
• 50.5% of Pittsburgh's set of downs reach third down, 29^th in the NFL.
• Baltimore has given up 36 touchdowns this season. Only seven teams have allowed more.
• Jacksonville is the only defense that gives up more passing yards per game than the Ravens (258.9). Baltimore allows 6.9 yards per pass attempt, tied for 22^nd. But at home, the Ravens allow 6.4 despite playing against Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts, among others. Over their past three games, Baltimore allows 5.4 yards per pass attempt.
• Wilson's 8.1 yards per attempt is only behind Jackson, Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Brock Purdy and Jordan Love.
• With George Pickens out of the lineup, Wilson has just 286 passing yards over the past two games. With Pickens, Wilson averages 8.8 yards per attempt compared to 6.1 without him.
• Wilson had an average time to throw of just 2.38 seconds last week, his quickest since Week 2 of the 2019 season.
• Despite missing the past two games, only four pass catchers have more than Pickens' 12 end zone targets. But Pickens only has two touchdowns on those dozen end zone targets and three overall. Pickens' 2.5 yards per route run is 10^th best. He still leads the NFL with 12 receptions of 30-plus yards.
• Last week with Pickens sidelined, Calvin Austin led the Steelers receivers with five catches for 65 yards. No other pass catcher had more than 22 receiving yards. Austin had a 92% route participation and 28% target share against the Eagles.
• The Ravens give up the sixth-most receiving yards per game (118.5) and fifth-most receptions (122) to receivers aligned out wide.
• Pat Freiermuth has a three-game touchdown reception streak going. Last week, he ran a route on 84.6% of the Steelers dropbacks. Baltimore's defense has given up the sixth-most catches (78) and fifth-most yards (860) to tight ends.
• The Ravens surrender the fifth-most receiving yards per game (41.1) to the running back position.
• During the first 10 weeks of the season, Baltimore's defense gave up 29 pass plays of 25-plus yards, most in the NFL. Over the past five weeks, it has allowed three, least in the league.
• Of the Ravens' 44 sacks, 22 are by Kyle Van Noy (9), Odafe Oweh (8) and Nnamdi Madubuike (5). Oweh had 2.5 sacks in Pittsburgh earlier this season. Baltimore's 44 sacks are only behind the Broncos and Texans despite blitzing on just 20.8% of opposing dropbacks, the seventh lowest percentage.
• Philadelphia blitzed Wilson just once in Week 15.
• The Steelers utilize their no-huddle offense on 20.3% of their snaps, the fifth-highest rate in the league.
• Baltimore held the Giants to just 55 rushing yards, and the Steelers could only muster 56 yards on the ground last week. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined to carry the ball 10 times for 26 yards.
• Harris played 16 snaps in Week 15, a career-low. Since Week 10, Harris has a 51% rush share and 31% route participation.
• Pittsburgh didn't have a rush attempt of 10-plus yards in Philadelphia. Baltimore has given up 21 such runs this season, best in the league. The Ravens defense allows 2.42 yards per rush after first contact. Only the Lions are better.
• Baltimore allows 3.4 yards per carry to the running back position. In these teams' first meeting, the Steelers running backs averaged 3.7.
• The Steelers have converted 56.5% of their goal-to-go possessions into touchdowns.
• The Giants were just 2 of 12 on third downs against Baltimore last week.
• Pittsburgh averages 2.5 first downs per game gained via penalty. That is tied with Minnesota for most in the league. 13.5% of the Steelers first downs have come via penalty.

WHEN BALTIMORE HAS THE BALL

• Baltimore's 6.9 yards per play is the best in the NFL by .6 yards. The Ravens produced 6.1 yards per play in Week 11 and 7.5 last week. Pittsburgh's defense gives up 5.3.
• The Ravens are third in points per game (29.9) and first in yards per game (424.1). Pittsburgh allows 18.9 points per game, sixth-best. Only the Lions and Bills have scored more than the 51 Ravens' touchdowns.
• Baltimore employs 11 Personnel 30.1% of their snaps, the lowest rate in the league, but is first in 22 Personnel (12.6%) and third in 21 Personnel (19%) usage. The Steelers see 11 Personnel 64.8% of the time, the fifth-highest rate in the league.
• The Ravens turn a set of downs into a new set of downs or a touchdown at a 78% clip. Only the Bills and Lions are better. The Steelers allow this to occur at a 69% clip. Only five defenses are better.
• 38.5% of Baltimore's set of downs reach third downs, the lowest rate in the league. Pittsburgh's defense creates a three-and-out on 27.2% of drives, best in the league.
• The Ravens offense is the only one in the league in the top three in both rushing yards per game and passing yards per game.
• Baltimore (8.1) is the only offense in the league over eight yards per pass attempt.
• Jackson threw five touchdown passes in the Ravens' 21-point win last week. He only had four incomplete passes on 25 attempts and racked up 290 passing yards. He had more passing touchdowns than incompletions. This was Jackson's fifth career game with at least five touchdown passes and five or fewer incompletions. No one else has more than three. This was also Jackson's sixth career five-touchdown, zero-interception game. Tom Brady and Drew Brees are the only two quarterbacks with more such games. This was also Jackson's fourth career game with five or more passing touchdowns and at least 50 rushing yards. The rest of the NFL also has four combined, ever. Jackson is 27 years old.
• Jackson leads the league in yards per dropback, as well as passer rating. He has a league-high 22 touchdown throws on passes 10 or more yards. His 8.9 yards per attempt is best in football. 8.4% of Jackson's pass attempts have resulted in a touchdown, best in the league. Sam Darnold is second, but only at 7.3%. His interception percentage is .7%. Only Justin Herbert is better. Jackson's interception percentage is the lowest in NFL history of any player with 30-plus passing touchdowns.
• In the first meeting this year against the Steelers Jackson completed 48.5% of his passes with 6.3 yards per attempt, both season-lows. Against the Buccaneers, Bengals and Giants, Jackson has 302.3 passing yards per game with 18 touchdowns and zero interceptions. But against all other competition, Jackson averages 237.1 passing yards per game with 16 touchdowns and three interceptions.
• AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith combined to catch 19 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns against the Steelers last week.
• Zay Flowers has a 26.6% target share over his last nine fully healthy games with zero games under a 18.0% target share and only two games in which he didn't lead the Ravens in target share. He has been held under 75 receiving yards in five-straight games after eclipsing that mark in four of his previous five games.
• Rashod Bateman had two touchdowns last week of 20-plus yards. He now has four such touchdowns this season, only behind Terry McLaurin. Baltimore is 6-0 when Bateman scores a touchdown.
• Mark Andrews received an 8.3% target share against the Giants, his lowest since Week 4. However, this was the first game of the season in which Andrews eclipsed a 75% route participation (79%) when Isaiah Likely was active. Andrews has a three-game streak with a touchdown reception and has scored eight touchdowns in his past nine games. Andrews now has 48 career touchdowns, most in Ravens history, breaking Jamal Lewis' team record. He is also 122 receiving yards away from passing Todd Heap for second-most in Ravens history. Andrews has never scored a touchdown against the Steelers.
• Henry only has 13 receptions with the Ravens. He has been held under 80 yards from scrimmage in four of his past seven games. Henry averaged 133.6 yards from scrimmage in his first seven games with Baltimore.
• The Bengals are the only team with more passing touchdowns than Baltimore (34). The Steelers have allowed multiple touchdown passes in three-straight games after doing so once through the first 11 games.
• The Ravens 3.14 seconds average time to throw is the highest in the NFL. Still, only the Bills, Broncos and Packers have taken fewer sacks than Baltimore (22) and the Ravens are being blitzed at the league's highest rate (34.2%) tied with Carolina.
• TJ Watt's 17 career sacks are tied for the most by any player vs. any opponent since 2017. He is tied with himself against the Browns. Watt averages 1.12 sacks in divisional games over his career. That is the highest of any player with five or more divisional games played since sacks started being tracked in 1982. His brother, JJ Watt, is second at .96. Watt is currently tied for second in the league in quarterback hits (27), and first in tackles for loss (18) and forced fumbles (6).
• The Eagles are the only offense producing more rushing yards per game than Baltimore (178.4), and the Ravens' 5.7 yards per rush attempt is best in the league. Tampa Bay is second at 5.2. Baltimore has 69 rushes of 10-plus yards, most in the league. Ravens' carries have been stopped short or at the line of scrimmage on 14.4% of their attempts. Only the Chiefs, Giants and Panthers are better. Baltimore's 2.45 average rushing yards before first contact is first in the NFL.
• Pittsburgh's defense has given up just 34 rushes of 10-plus yards. The only defenses with fewer are Baltimore, Kansas City and Minnesota. The Steelers defense stops 20.1% of rush attempts at or behind the line of scrimmage. Only five defenses are better.
• The Steelers held Henry to 65 yards on 13 carries earlier this season. Last week, Henry ran the ball 14 times for 67 yards. Saquon Barkley (1688) is the only running back with more rushing yards than Henry (1474). Barkley (5.9) is also the only back with a better yards per carry average (5.8). Jalen Hurts (14) is the only player with more rushing touchdowns than Henry (13).
• Henry only needs 26 more rushing yards to reach his fourth career season with 1,500-plus yards on the ground. Barry Sanders (5) is on the only one who has more, and his fourth such season would tie Henry with Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson and Edgerrin James. Henry also needs just 24 rushing yards to hit 11,000 for his career and one rushing yard to tie John Riggins with the seventh-most in NFL history.
• The running back position averages just 3.9 yards per carry against the Steelers.
• Jackson ran for 65 yards on just six carries last week. His 743 rushing yards leads all quarterbacks. For his career, Jackson is 108 rushing yards behind Michael Vick for most all-time by a quarterback, even though he has played in 43 fewer games than Vick.
• The Ravens were 9 of 11 on third downs in New York. For the season, only the Chiefs (50.8%) are better than Baltimore (48.7%). The Steelers defense (35.1%) is seventh-best on third downs, but only the Titans, Raiders and Jets have allowed a higher (70.0%) fourth down conversion rate than Pittsburgh.
• The Eagles ran 23 plays in the red zone last week against Pittsburgh.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Last week Chris Boswell set the Steelers single-season record by making his 38^th field goal. He did so in just 41 attempts and still has three more games to play this season.
• Justin Tucker has missed eight of his 27 field goal attempts. He is five for eight between 40-50 yards and four for nine from 50 or more yards. Tucker missed two field goals when these teams last met. Only Dustin Hopkins has a worse field goal percentage than Tucker this year of kickers with at least 20 attempts.
• The Ravens have a 44.1 net average punt yards produced and allowed.
• The Steelers have punted 54 times. Their opponents have also punted 54 times.

Most Memorable Moment:

Jan. 15, 2011: Steelers 31, Ravens 24 at Heinz Field

Baltimore manhandled the Chiefs in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, winning 30-7, while the Steelers were on bye to open the postseason. After a slow start, Pittsburgh got on the board first with a Rashard Mendenhall touchdown plunge. But the Ravens roared back and took a 21-7 lead into halftime on the road. The third quarter belonged to the Steelers though with Ben Roethlisberger throwing touchdown passes to Heath Miller and Hines Ward to tie this game. After an exchange of field goals, Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown 58 yards downfield to put the Steelers on the two-yard line very late in the game. Mendenhall sealed the Steelers victory with a touchdown run with just 1:33 left on the clock. Even with 54 total points scored, this was a defensive battle without question. Baltimore finished the day with just 126 yards of total offense. Terrell Suggs had three sacks, and the Ravens sacked Roethlisberger six times. James Harrison had three sacks of his own, and Joe Flacco was sacked five times. Baltimore finished with just 35 rushing yards, while the Steelers could only muster 71 yards on the ground in a very physical affair. After edging out the Ravens, Pittsburgh went on to defeat the Jets in the AFC Championship game before finally falling to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Super Bowl XLV.

KEY MATCHUPS

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson vs. Steelers Pass Rush Plan - Jackson was the NFL's MVP last year, and he is having a better season this year. But, far and away, the defense Jackson has had the least success over his career against is the Steelers and a huge reason for that is Pittsburgh's pass rush plan. If Cameron Heyward, Watt, and company can keep that up, it could limit Baltimore's superstar quarterback once again.

Steelers QB Russell Wilson vs. Ravens LB Roquan Smith - Smith is the quarterback of Baltimore's defense. Over the course of the season, the Ravens have been very stingy against the run but far too generous against the pass, although their pass defense is rapidly improving. Wilson's experience and football intelligence will be critical when trying to manipulate Smith and this Ravens defense.