It'll be the Ravens against the Steelers and all that such a rivalry implies coming up on Sunday night at Heinz Field.

The players know, and they're preparing accordingly.

"You have to hit the weight room two, three times, four times this week," Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown maintained in a conference call with the Baltimore media. "You have to put the extra pads in and you have to protect yourself at all times.

"It's just that type of game."

Ravens-Steelers games are often all of that and then some. But for some involved the rivalry runs even deeper.

"It's personal," Steelers offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert announced.  "It's every bit personal. And not only that, it's a rivalry. In Week 2 they got through us. I've had this date circled on my calendar."

The Ravens won the initial meeting this season, 26-6, on Sept. 11 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil had a big night with a pair of sacks of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (Baltimore's only two sacks of the game). Gilbert claimed responsibility for both of the sacks. On the second of the two Dumervil went through and over Gilbert while in the process of collapsing the pocket.

"Obviously, it wasn't a good game for me," Gilbert said. "I take this personally."

He's also taking Ravens-Steelers II for what it is – a pivotal, mid-season showdown between two 5-3 teams just percentage points behind the first-place Cincinnati Bengals (4-2-1) and just percentage points ahead of the last-place Cleveland Browns (4-3) in the AFC North Division.

"Especially because both teams are 5-3," Gilbert said. "This is the second half of the season, and a lot of these teams are making pushes. We have to be a team on the rise. We can't be a team on the decline.

"This is an exciting time for us. Everything's falling in place for us. The offense is coming together. The defense is playing well. We just have to keep carrying this on and find a way to get a victory this weekend."

Gilbert is looking forward to reassuming his starting right tackle position against Baltimore after sitting out last Sunday's 51-34 victory over Indianapolis due to a concussion, an injury Gilbert sustained on Oct. 20 against Houston.

"It's very hard to deal with, not being mentally into the game or mentally into it the way you want to be," Gilbert said. "It wasn't good. Obviously it wasn't, I wasn't around much last week. I'm just glad and excited to be back out here at practice."

STATUS REPORT
Out – Safety Ross Ventrone (hamstring), CB Ike Taylor (forearm).
Probable – Gilbert (concussion), NT Steve McLendon (shoulder), LB Ryan Shazier (knee), TE Matt Spaeth (hamstring), S Shamarko Thomas (hamstring), S Mike Mitchell (groin), S Troy Polamalu (not injury related), TE heath Miller (not injury related), DE Brett Keisel (not injury related).