Cheat Sheet: Steelers vs. Ravens

SERIES HISTORY

This outstanding rivalry started in 1996 when the Browns moved from Cleveland and became the Ravens. Since then, Pittsburgh leads the series 35-25, including four playoff matchups. In the playoffs, the Steelers have lost just once against Baltimore. Pittsburgh won six of the first seven meetings. They Steelers also have won seven of the last eight. The Steelers have swept Baltimore in three of the past four seasons. Mike Tomlin is 21-16 against the Ravens. John Harbaugh is 15-20 against Pittsburgh.

MATCHUP OVERVIEW

• Baltimore is 7-3 after defeating the Bengals last Thursday night and is on a two-game winning streak. The Ravens are 2-1 in the AFC North while this is Pittsburgh's first divisional game. The Ravens are 3-2 on the road while Pittsburgh is 3-1 at home. The Steelers are in first place in the AFC North, and this is their first divisional game after starting the season 7-2. Pittsburgh is on a four-game winning streak and is 3-1 at home. This will be the first time in the last 10 years that Baltimore and Pittsburgh meet with both teams four games or better over .500.
• In their 56 regular season matchups, these two teams are only separated by 35 points. 26 of their 32 meetings since 2008 have been decided by one score (most in NFL).
• Pittsburgh has a plus-69 point differential compared to plus-65 for the Ravens. Pittsburgh's second half point differential of plus-80 is the best in the league.
• Both of Pittsburgh's losses this season were by three points in Weeks 4 and 5. The Steelers minus-3 average point differential per loss is the lowest in the NFL this year. The Ravens three losses are by a combined 15 points.
• Since 2023, Lamar Jackson is 11-1 against teams that enter the game with a winning record.
• Baltimore games are averaging a league-high 57.1 points and 808.1 yards per game.
• Baltimore has scored nine more touchdowns than its opponents, average 1.3 more passing yards per attempt, have 18 more sacks, 2.3 more yards per rush attempt, 109.2 rushing yards per game and 62 more yards from scrimmage than the Ravens allow.
• The Ravens' 2.3 more yards per rush attempt is the best in football and the next closest team (Green Bay) is at .8.
• Baltimore has a plus-4 turnover ratio. The Steelers are at plus-9, only behind Buffalo. Baltimore and Pittsburgh have just seven and six turnovers respectively. The Chargers and Commanders are the only two offenses with less than six. Pittsburgh has thrown just two interceptions all season. The Chargers with one is the only team better.
• Pittsburgh's time of possession now sits at 32:12 compared to 30:50 for Baltimore. Last week, the Ravens held the football for just 10:35 in the first half. That is the lowest time of possession for any half with Jackson as the Ravens starting quarterback. The Steelers held the ball for 36:11 against Washington.
• After playing Thursday night, Baltimore has a significant rest advantage over the Steelers. 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.
• Russell Wilson has the NFL's longest current streak of games (22) with a touchdown pass. Lamar Jackson is second with 17. Wilson has 32 touchdowns vs. nine interceptions since the start of the 2023 season. That is the third-most touchdowns with less than 10 interceptions during that stretch. Jackson is first with 48 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
• The Ravens throw the ball at a 48.6% clip. The Steelers are at 46.7%. Only the Eagles (45.0) throw it at a lower rate. Those three teams have a combined 21-7 record.
• Baltimore's (56.9%) and Pittsburgh's (56.6%) are seeing rushing attempts between the tackles at the league's two highest rates.
• 53.3% of Pittsburgh's offensive production has come via its un game, as has 51.4% of Baltimore's. That is the second- and third-highest percentage in the NFL.
• Pittsburgh's offense produces 51.2 more rushing yards per game than the Steelers allow.
• Baltimore has committed 24 more penalties than its opponents for 228 more penalty yards. The Ravens committed 11 penalties last week for 81 yards. Their 80 accepted penalties and 68.3 penalty yards per game are the most in the league. For context, the Steelers have committed 57 penalties for an average of 49.0 yards per game.
• The Ravens are the third team in NFL history to score 20-plus points and produce 375-plus yards in each of their first 10 games of a season.
• Baltimore's streak of 42-straight games with at least 100 rushing yards came to an end last week on an end of game kneel down. It was the third-longest such streak in NFL history and one game shy of tying the longest streak. The Ravens ended up with 99 rushing yards last week. The longest streaks of 43 games belong to the 2018-2021 Ravens and the 1974-1977 Steelers.
• Since 1990, teams that begin the season 8-2 go to the playoffs 97.3% of the time and win their division 76.7%. Teams that begin the season 7-3 go at 84.6% clip and win their division 51.7% of the time.
• Defining explosive plays as any play that gains 15-plus yards, the Ravens are first in explosive play rate at 14.2% and their defense is last, allowing 12.9%. Baltimore's defense is third-best in allowing explosive runs (.9%), but a distant 32^nd in explosive pass plays (12.0%). The Ravens are first in explosive pass plays (10.7%) and second in explosive run plays (3.6%).

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• The Steelers produce 5.1 yards per play but are at 5.6 over the past three games. They also average 5.6 yards per play at home. Baltimore gave up 6.3 yards per play last week and now sit at 5.7 for the season. The Ravens give up 6.3 on the road.
• Pittsburgh is averaging 30.3 points per game in Wilson's three starts.
• The Steelers lead the NFL in their usage of 14 and 13 Personnel and are fourth in 13 Personnel with a sixth offensive lineman on the field.
• Baltimore allows 367.9 yards per game, the sixth-most in the league. The Ravens give up 294.9 through the air, most in the NFL and the fifth-most yards per pass attempt (6.9). They have given up 22 passing touchdowns, most in the league.
• The Ravens defense face a league-high 39.7 pass attempts per game and have seen a league-high 53 red zone passes.
• When Kyle Hamilton has not been on the field, Baltimore allows 9.3 yards per attempt.
• Of the 42 passers with 50-plus attempts, Wilson ranks 10^th in yards per game (245.7), third in yards per attempt (8.67) and second in average depth of target (10.4) and deep pass rate (17.6%).
• George Pickens averaged 60.5 yards per game and didn't have a touchdown reception in his first six games. With Wilson, Pickens averages 92 yards per game and has two touchdown catches. He has been targeted on 26.1% of his routes. He averages 3.21 yards per route run with Wilson.
• Of the 35 wide receivers with 50-plus targets this season, Pickens ranks ninth in receiving yards per game (71.0), fifth in average depth of target (13.9), seventh in team target share (25.9%), ninth in targets per route run (.27) , fourth in team receiving yards share (34.3%), second in yards per route run (2.74), fifth in yards per target (9.98), third in yards per reception (15.9) and fifth in yards after contact per reception (2.23).
• Pickens' 10 end zone targets are the most among all wide receivers. With 11 catches on balls thrown 20 yards or more, Pickens has at least two more than any other receiver in the NFL.
• Last week was Calvin Austin's highest target share (24%) of the season. He's had an 18% target share with Wilson as the Steelers quarterback.
• Mike Williams ran seven routes in his Steelers debut.
• Ja'Marr Chase scorched the Ravens last week, catching 11 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns.
• Of the 32 tight ends with 25-plus targets, Pat Freiermuth ranks ninth in routes run per team dropback (71.7%), eighth in yards after contact per reception (2.31), fifth in team touchdown rate (27.3%) and fifth in percentage of route run out wide (21.9%). Freiermuth has not been targeted more than three times in a single game since Week 5 and has just a 10.1% target share with Wilson as the quarterback.
• Baltimore allows 6.3 receptions per game to tight ends. Only one defense is worse.
• Pittsburgh is utilizing play-action on 30.6% of the time, the fourth-highest percentage in the NFL.
• Steelers quarterbacks have been deemed under pressure on 38.5% of their dropbacks, the seventh-highest percentage in the league. But Baltimore is pressuring quarterbacks on 31.9% of dropbacks, eighth-worst. The Ravens' 20.9% blitz rate is only higher than five teams.
• Opponents are blitzing the Steelers on 35.1% of their dropbacks. Only the Commanders and 49ers are seeing a higher percentage of blitz.
• The Ravens opponents are getting the ball out of the passer's hand, on average, in 2.91 seconds. Only four defenses are higher.
• Nnamdi Madubuike had three sacks last week and his five sacks for the season only trails Kyle Van Noy (seven) among Ravens defenders. Madubuike had 13 sacks in 2023.
• Jaylen Warren co-led the Steelers last week with 95 scrimmage yards. He has a streak of three games in a row with 55-plus scrimmage yards.
• The Steelers' 138.3 rushing yards per game is the eighth-highest, but their 4.0 yards per carry is only better than the Raiders, Rams, Chiefs and Cowboys. Baltimore allows the fewest rushing yards (73.0) per game and the fewest rushing yards (3.4) per attempt.
• Najee Harris ranks 15^th in rushing yards per game (71.7). Over the past two games, Harris has 40 rush attempts compared to 23 for Warren, but Warren has run 28 routes compared to 21 by Harris.
• The most rushing yards the Ravens have allowed to a running back is 52 yards. They allow 3.2 yards per carry to running backs. And only 2.8% of running back runs have gained 10-plus yards and only 12.5 have resulted in a first down or touchdown, both best in the league.
• Baltimore held the Bengals to just 49 yards rushing last week.
• The Ravens have only allowed 10 rushing attempts of 10-plus yards, best in the league. The next-best defense is Kansas City with 16. The Ravens allow 2.21 yards after first contact, best in the NFL.
• The Ravens have allowed 82 explosive plays, most in the league. Not only is that the most in the league, but no other defense has allowed more than 61 explosive plays.

WHEN BALTIMORE HAS THE BALL

• Baltimore produces 7.1 yards per play, best in the league. For context, the 49ers are second at 6.5 and the Packers (6.1) are the only other team over 6.0. Pittsburgh's defense gives up 5.1 yards per play, but just 4.1 last week. Baltimore averaged 6.7 yards per play last week and scored 28 second half points.
• The Ravens are seeing a pass play called against them at a 66.5% clip, the highest rate in the league.
• Baltimore utilizes 11 Personnel (26.3%) at the league's second-lowest rate. The Ravens are first in their usage of 22 and 20 Personnel as well as those two personnel groupings with a sixth offensive lineman. They are also third in their usage of 21 Personnel and fourth in their usage of 12 Personnel. The Steelers defense sees 11 Personnel 67.8% of their snaps, the fifth-highest in the league.
• Steelers' opponents are calling a pass play at a 61.4% clip. Only the Ravens, Vikings and Lions are seeing a higher pass rate against.
• Not only do the Ravens produce more yards per game (440.2) than any team in the league, but the second-place team, San Francisco, is 27.8 yards behind Baltimore. Pittsburgh held the Commanders to their lowest yardage total (242) in Week 10. The Steelers allow 302.7 yards per game, eighth-best.
• The Ravens have scored 38 touchdowns to lead the NFL. The next closest team, Detroit, has scored 33.
• Baltimore turns a set of downs into a new set of downs or a touchdown at a 79% clip. That is tied with Washington for best in the league. But the Steelers defense is at 67%. Only the Bears are better.
• Only the Seahawks and 49ers average more passing yards per game than Baltimore (257.6) and the Ravens' 8.5 yards per pass attempt is a half-yard better than the second-best offense (San Francisco).
• Pittsburgh has surrendered just eight passing touchdowns this season. Only the Bears, Lions and Jets have given up fewer.
• Jackson has a 24-2 Touchdown/Interception ratio and 538 rushing yards, the most rushing yards among all quarterbacks. Jackson has 10 career games with 4-plus passing touchdowns. That is the fourth-most of any passer under age 28 behind Dan Marino (16), Patrick Mahomes (16) and Brett Favre (11).
• Jackson has a four-game streak with 280-plus passing yards, two or more passing touchdowns, a 100-plus passer rating and zero touchdowns. That is the third-longest such streak in NFL history.
• Over the past six games Jackson has thrown for 280-plus yards. Over that six-game stretch, Jackson averages 38.3 rushing yards per game, 301.8 passing yards per game, 3.17 passing touchdowns per game with a 135.7 passer rating. Every one of those numbers leads all quarterbacks. But Jackson's career passer rating against the Steelers is 66.3, his worst against any team.
• Of the 42 passers with 50-plus attempts, Jackson ranks seventh in completion percentage (69.1%), fourth in yards per game (266.9) and first in yards per attempt (9.27).
• On throws 10 to 19 yards, Jackson ranks first in completion percentage (71.0%), yards per pass attempt (12.5) and passer rating (142.3).
• Zay Flowers' 73 targets leads Baltimore and are 26 more than any other Raven. Last week, Flowers got his second-highest route share of the season (91.7%), but his second-lowest target share (18.2%).
• Of the 35 wide receivers with 50-plus targets, Flowers ranks eighth in yards per route run (2.40), seventh in yards per target (9.56), fourth in yards after the catch per reception (6.64) and third in yards after contact per reception (2.34).
• Rashad Bateman has run a route on 77% of the Ravens dropbacks this season and leads the team with a 13.3 average depth of target.
• Diontae Johnson ran just three routes last week but was targeted on two of them. He has run just seven routes in two games with the Ravens.
• Tylan Wallace had an 84-yard touchdown last week and finished the game with three catches for 115 yards. However, he has run more than five routes in a game just once this season.
• With Isaiah Likely sidelined, Mark Andrews ran a route last week on 94% of Baltimore's dropbacks, a season-high. His previous high this year was 75%. That led to a 21.9% target share, also his highest of the season. Andrews has five touchdowns over his past five games. His five touchdowns for the season are only behind George Kittle among tight ends.
• Of the 32 tight ends with 25-plus targets, Andrews ranks first in average depth of target (9.6), sixth in yards per target (9.92), sixth in yards per reception (11.9), seventh in team touchdown percentage (20.8%), third in first downs per route run (.11) and second in percentage of his route run out of the slot (61.1%).
• The Steelers only allow 5.6 yards per target to tight ends, third-best.
• Derrick Henry has just a 5% target share since joining the Ravens. He has caught more than one pass in a game just once this season.
• Only the Eagles have a higher average time to thrown than Baltimore's 3.09 seconds. Jayden Daniels got the ball out of his hands in 2.54 seconds on average last week. On average this season, the ball is coming out in 2.67 seconds against the Steelers. Only the Titans and Eagles have a shorter time to throw against.
• Cameron Heyward had two sacks last week to bring his season total to five.
• TJ Watt's 16 career sacks against Ravens are the most by any player against Baltimore since 2017. That is 7.5 more sacks than any other defender vs. the Ravens during that time. They also are second-most by any player against a specific team during that time. The most is Watt's 17 sacks vs. the Browns.
• Not only do the Ravens lead the NFL in passing yards per game, but they are also tops in rushing yards at 182.6. They also lead the NFL by a half yard over the second-place team (Arizona) by averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Pittsburgh gives up 87.1 rushing yards per game. Only the Ravens, Vikings and Chiefs are better, and their 3.8 rushing yards per attempt is better than every team other than Baltimore and Kansas City.
• Henry has scored a touchdown in every game this season and has 14, two of which are as a receiver. His 12 rushing touchdowns not only leads all running backs, but no one else has more than eight. He has a streak of an 11-game streak of scoring at least one touchdown. Henry has 1,120 rushing yards, 1,003 more than any other Ravens running back.
• Of the 50 running backs with at least 50 carries, Henry ranks first in rushing yards per game (112.0), first in yards per carry (6.09), first runs that result in a first down (48), third in runs that result in 15-plus yards (7.6%), fourth in yards after contact per attempt (3.08) and in yards before contact per attempt (3.01).
• Even though Jackson only rushed for four yards in Week 2, he still averages 53.8 rushing yards per game. For his career, Jackson averages 60.7.
• The Steelers are second quarterback rushing yards allowed (61) behind Minnesota and held Daniels to just five rushing yards last week. Daniels had zero scrambles on designed passing plays.
• Baltimore is tied with Arizona with a league-leading 49 rushing attempts of 10-plus yards and the Ravens have been stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage 13.8% of their rushing attempts, fourth-best. Their average yards before first contact of 2.64 is also best in the league. Pittsburgh's defense has allowed 23 runs of 10-plus yards, fourth-best, and the stops opposing ball carriers at or behind the line of scrimmage at a 21.0% clip, also fourth-best. Pittsburgh average yards after contact per carry of 2.66 is fifth-best.
• Baltimore's 76.7% red zone success rate is the best in the league. Pittsburgh's red zone defense (44.4%) is tied for fourth.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Miles Killebrew and Connor Heyward lead the Steelers, playing 164 special teams snaps. Payton Wilson and Mark Robinson are just behind at 163. After those four, Mark Robinson has the next-highest special teams snap counts at 163.
• The Steelers opponents have only made 14 field goals. Pittsburgh has made 23. Baltimore has missed four field goals, as have their opponents.

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 post season. 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 with Ben Roethlisberger throwing touchdown passes to Heath Miller and then Hines Ward to tie it. Pittsburgh and the Ravens exchanged field goals before Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown 58 yards downfield to put the Steelers on the 2-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 with just 126 yards of total offense. Terrell Suggs had three sacks, and the Ravens sacked Roethlisberger six times. James Harrison had three sacks 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 LB Patrick Queen - Queen vs. his former team. The same can be said for DeShon Elliott, as well, but it is Queen who wears the green dot. Queen has the speed to deal with Jackson's immense athletic ability about as well as any linebacker, but he will have to be mentally sharp against Jackson and a Baltimore offense that throws a very wide variety of personnel groupings at opposing defenses and can dominate with their running game or through the air.

Steelers WR George Pickens vs. Ravens Cornerbacks - Baltimore has massive pass defense issues and we just saw Cincinnati's top wide receiver, Ja'Marr Chase, totally light up the Ravens cornerbacks. Can Pickens do something similar? The answer to that question will go a very long way to determining the outcome of this contest.