BALTIMORE -- It's so fitting Ben Roethlisberger's final game will come against the Ravens in Baltimore, the place where it all began back in 2004.
It's the place where he had his nose broken by Haloti Ngata, yet kept on playing. It's the place he fought off a sack attempt by Terrell Suggs to somehow throw the ball away, tossing a touchdown on the very next play to Isaac Redman to beat the Ravens. It's a place where he connected with Santonio Holmes on a 4-yard touchdown pass with Holmes falling out of the end zone and into the field of play with 43 seconds remaining to seal a 13-9 comeback win in 2008.
It's, well, just Steelers-Ravens.
Early in Roethlisberger's career, the rivalry was as bitter as any ever to take place in the NFL. There was no quarter given and none asked.
It was Anthony Burgess' "Clockwork Orange" ultra-violence brought to life, not in a dystopian future, but before our very eyes two and sometimes even three times a year.
It was a sanctioned street fight.
But as the NFL waded away from celebrating those matchups to penalizing them in an effort to cut down on head injuries, the players also began to fade away. Hines Ward, Jerome Bettis, James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Suggs and other players who made each meeting such a must-watch event retired.
And now, Sunday, the last of the combatants will step into the great beyond that is retirement when the Steelers (8-7-1) close out their regular season at M&T Bank Stadium against the Ravens (8-8).
Perhaps it's fitting that neither the Steelers nor the Ravens are champions of the AFC North this season. After all, when Roethlisberger officially retires at the end of this season, the era of those often-bloody battles between the two officially comes to and end.
"My first game I ever played in the NFL was there, and it was Ed Reed and Ngata, Suggs, Lewis, just to name a few," Roethlisberger said this week. "It was never a lot of fun to play those guys, but I think it was a lot of respect. It’s going to be pretty cool."
Just to make it a little more cool, the Ravens are bringing Suggs back to honor him as one of their legends. Suggs, of course, sacked Roethlisberger 17 times in his 16 seasons with the Ravens, more than any other single player ever brought Roethlisberger down.
Much like the rivalry itself, the once bitter combatants grew to respect each other over the years -- something never achieved by the Bengals or Browns. Those two teams thought you had to play dirty to match the intensity of the Steelers and Ravens. For the Steelers and Ravens, it was rarely dirty play, just hard-nosed, hard-fought football that involved great players.
"We were friendly when we needed to be friendly," Roethlisberger said of Suggs. "But there was a lot of respect between the two of us."
There's still a high level of respect between the two organizations and head coaches when it comes down to it. They want to beat each other, but they also respect the job the other does to compete year in and year out.
"The culture that he has built and maintained for 14 years, it's no easy task," Mike Tomlin said of his counterpart in Baltimore, John Harbaugh. "Players come and go over the years ... yet Steelers and Ravens remain. It remains because the culture has not only been built, but continually cultivated. That is not an easy task. So, I have a ton of respect for Coach Harbaugh and what he's been able to do with his group year in and year out."
Harbaugh speaks as glowingly of Tomlin.
"He’s really one of the great coaches in football," Harbaugh said. "You have to go against a great coach like that who has built ... a great organization, but the culture is his. He’s the guy that organizes the building. He organizes the approach. He organized the interactions. He puts it all together, and he’s responsible for it all. I think his imprint is on that team; it has been, and it will continue to be. It’s a big challenge going against a great coach like that. I admire him, respect him [and] like him personally, but would really like to find a way to win a game here. So, he’s gotten a couple here in a row. They have done a great job the last three times we played them; we need to step up.”
The Steelers have won the past three games against the Ravens, as Harbaugh said. And the Ravens have lost their past five games, a streak that started with a 20-19 loss to the Steelers Dec. 5 at Heinz Field.
So, even though they have all of the respect in the world for the Steelers and Roethlisberger, they'll not going to simply roll over for them and give the quarterback a nice sendoff into retirement.
In fact, like the Steelers, Baltimore needs to win this game to have a chance -- however slight -- to get into the playoffs. The Ravens also need a loss by the Colts in Jacksonville along with a win to have a chance to earn a spot in the postseason. However, unlike the Steelers, who only need that scenario to happen, they also need some other things to fall into place.
This game might not have the high stakes of some of those games a decade or more ago -- when both teams were among the best in the NFL -- there's still something for which to play more so than pride.
Especially for the guys representing all of those former greats in this game.
"For me, it's Ben," Harbaugh said of the rivalry. "He's been the guy that's the straw that stirred the drink there for almost two decades. For 14 years for me trying to figure out a way to stop him and slow him down and have him not make the plays has been very defining."
That's why Roethlisberger won't be as concerned as he was about this being his final game as he is about simply winning the game.
Neither the Steelers or Ravens can do anything about what's happening in Jacksonville. But they can control what happens at M&T Bank Stadium.
"I’m just focused on Baltimore because that’s all you can do," Roethlisberger said. "We’ve got to go out and win this football game."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: Steelers (8-7-1) vs. Ravens (8-8)
• When: 1:02 p.m., Sunday
• Where: M&T Bank Stadium
• Forecast: 40°, 80% chance rain, 10-mph wind
• TV: KDKA, CBS (national)
• Radio: 102.5 WDVE, ESPN Pittsburgh
• Streaming: Steelers Nation Radio
• Satellite: Sirius XM 225, online 826
• Media notes: Steelers | Ravens
THE INJURY REPORT
Steelers: LB Buddy Johnson (foot, out), P Pressley Harvin (personal/illness, questionable), C Kendrick Green (calf, questionable)
Ravens: CB Anthony Averett (ribs/chest, out), QB Lamar Jackson (ankle, out), LB Odafe Oweh (foot, doubtful), G Ben Powers (foot, questionable), G Ben Cleveland (head, questionable), WR Devin Duvernay (ankle/knee, questionable)
THE COVID LIST
Steelers: C Kendrick Green, CB Joe Haden
Ravens: TE Nick Boyle
THE KEY VARIABLE
There's plenty of rain in the forecast for this game, meaning Roethlisberger's last game could be spent handing the ball off to Najee Harris -- a lot. It also means that the team that runs the ball the most effectively will win this game.
On first blush, that would appear to give the Ravens a big advantage. After all, they are fifth in the NFL in rushing at 139.4 yards per game, while the Steelers are 28th averaging just 94 yards per game on the ground.
But with Lamar Jackson sidelined for his fourth consecutive game with an ankle injury, Tyler Huntley will be at quarterback for the Ravens. And while he's a good runner, he's not Jackson.
In the four games in which he has taken the majority of the snaps at quarterback for the Ravens this season, Huntley has averaged 53 rushing yards. It's a nice total, but one that pales in comparison to the nearly 70 rushing yards per game Jackson averaged when he played the majority of the snaps.
Those 17 yards might not sound all that important until you consider Baltimore's leading rusher among its running backs is Devonta Freeman with 555 yards, an average of 37 per game.
As a whole, Ravens running backs have produced 1,170 yards on 296 carries. That's almost identical to the 1,172 rushing yards Najee Harris has on 296 carries this season.
So, for the Steelers, keeping Huntley in the pocket and under control is a must.
"Usually when they run the ball with the quarterback it becomes 11-on-11," said Cam Heyward. "It takes a lot of guys getting to the ball. Coach (Dick) LeBeau always was big on everybody just doing their 1/11 and it takes that on Sunday. We just got to make sure we have a solid game plan. It doesn't take a lot of exotic stuff. It comes down to just being simple and executing at a high level."
The Steelers have done a good job against Jackson over the years. In four career starts against the Steelers, he's averaged exactly 50 rushing yards per game, well below his career average.
If they can limit Huntley on the ground, he's not capable of beating them through the air. Huntley has averaged 210.3 yards passing in his three starts with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
He's a nice backup quarterback. But he isn't Jackson, particularly when it comes to throwing down the field. Jackson averaged 7.5 yards per pass attempt this season. Huntley averages 6.0 yards per attempt.
"We still better be conscious of quarterback mobility," Tomlin said. "We still had better be concerned of that aspect of it. He does make quick and fluid decisions. He does still throw the ball to Mark Andrews. He's figured out that component of it."
With Huntley at quarterback, Andrews, the Ravens' star tight end, has topped 100 receiving yards in three of the past four games -- Huntley replaced Jackson early in one of those games.
The Steelers will counter by trying to control things with Harris, who is coming off a career-high 188 yards rushing last week against the Browns. They also got some good news Friday when wide receiver Diontae Johnson cleared COVID-19 protocols. Johnson had eight receptions for 105 yards and scored both touchdowns in the Steelers' 20-19 win over the Ravens at Heinz Field. Harris had 71 rushing yards and five catches for 36 yards in that win.
The Ravens lead the NFL in rushing defense, allowing 84.8 yards per game, but that's largely because they're last in the NFL in pass defense. Teams have found it much easier to simply throw the ball against them. Baltimore's rushing defense is good, but not great. Their 3.9 yards per carry allowed isn't dynamic.
"They're the No. 1 defense in the league against the run. So, I doubt they're really going to do anything much different," Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. "They've got a real good formula on stopping the run. So, we certainly believe we have to throw the football. That's something that we've tried to do and in some weeks, we've been somewhat effective in some ways weeks we haven't been effective. We'll continue to try to do whatever we can to find a way to win the game. And the running game has certainly been part of that."
THE HISTORY LESSON
This one is easy.
In 2004, the Steelers traveled to Baltimore in Week 2 to face the Ravens, the defending AFC North champions. The year before, the Ravens had played to win against the Steelers in a meaningless regular season finale, trying to get star running back Jamal Lewis to 2,000 yards.
The Steelers lost that game 13-10 in overtime -- and the tired Ravens paid the price the following week in the playoffs, losing to the Titans, 10-7 -- but it also put the Steelers at 11 in the 2004 NFL Draft allowing them to select Roethlisberger.
Had the Steelers won that game, they would have fallen behind Buffalo, which picked 13th and also coveted Roethlisberger. But that wasn't how history was written.
Even though the Steelers selected Roethlisberger as a replacement for Tommy Maddox, the plan was for the rookie to sit his first year behind both Maddox and Charlie Batch. But Batch was injured in the preseason, bumping Roethlisberger up to No. 2.
And that would soon change, as well, in this Sept. 19, 2004, meeting in Baltimore.
With Maddox struggling, completing just 4 of 13 passes for 67 yards, the Steelers fell behind 13-0 early in the third quarter. Things went from bad to worse on the opening possession of the second half when Gary Baxter sacked Maddox on a corner blitz, injuring the quarterback's elbow.
Now, Roethlisberger was forced into action. Worse yet, Maddox had fumbled and Suggs recovered the loose ball, returning it 24 yards to the Pittsburgh 1. Lewis plunged into the end zone for a touchdown to give the Ravens a 20-0 lead.
Bill Cowher, wanting to ease the kid into the game, called five-straight runs on the Steelers' next possession before they were forced to punt. Then, Roethlisberger came out throwing on the next possession, and after an incompletion to Plaxico Burress, he was intercepted by linebacker Adalius Thomas.
The Steelers defense again held, and Roethlisberger completed his first career pass on the next possession, hitting Burress for a 21-yard gain. He completed a second pass, a 2-yard dumpoff to Verron Haynes, but the Steelers were again forced to punt.
His next completion -- on the Steelers' next possession -- went to Ward for a 58-yard gain and helped set up his first career touchdown pass, a 3-yarder to Antwaan Randle El to make it 20-7.
The Ravens tacked on a Matt Stover field goal to go back up three scores at 23-7, but Roethlisberger again answered, completing passes to Randle El, Haynes, Lee Mays and, finally, Ward again, the final one being a 20-yard touchdown pass. The Steelers went for a conversion, but Roethlisberger's pass attempt to Burress missed the mark and they trailed 23-13 with 6:15 remaining in the game.
The Ravens pinned the Steelers inside their own 10 with their next punt, but Roethlisberger connected on a 25-yard pass to Randle El out to the Pittsburgh 34. But on third-and-10, Chris McAllister intercepted the rookie and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown and a 30-13 lead.
Roethlisberger completed 12 of 20 passes for 171 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, with Ward hauling in six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. Duce Staley had 16 carries for 57 yards, while Haynes had seven carries for 34 yards for the Steelers.
The Ravens won by not turning the ball over, despite being outgained 310-259 in the game.
Quarterback Kyle Boller completed just 10 of 18 passes for 98 yards. While the Ravens rushed for 172 yards in the game, Lewis was bottled up for just 62 yards on 24 carries. Chester Taylor had nine carries for 76 yards.
Maddox was supposed to be out at least six weeks, so the Steelers knew they'd have to rely on the rookie for a while.
Later the next week, All-Pro guard Alan Faneca was asked if he was "excited" to be playing with the rookie.
"Exciting?" Faneca replied. "No, it's not exciting. Do you want to go work with some little young kid who's just out of college?"
As it turned out, it would be very exciting. Roethlisberger and the Steelers didn't lose another game in the regular season -- including a 20-7 win over the Ravens in a Week 14 rematch at Heinz Field -- as Maddox never got the job back.
KARL ROSER / STEELERS
T.J. Watt, 90, breaks the Steelers down at the end of practice this week after learning he had been named team MVP.
THE MAIN MATCHUP
T.J. Watt has already taken home the hardware as Steelers MVP for the third consecutive season. He's likely to lead the NFL in sacks for the second consecutive season, taking a 3.5-sack lead into Week 18 over the Bears' Robert Quinn.
Now, the only question is whether or not Watt will break Michael Strahan's 2001 NFL record of 22.5 sacks in a season. Watt had 3.5 sacks against the Ravens in the Steelers' win in Pittsburgh last month and needs just 1.5 sacks in this game to break the record.
"To me he may be the best defensive player in football," Harbaugh said. "There's a lot of great players in this league but none better than him, evidence being the sack record for sure. ... We loved him coming out in the draft. Of course, when he went to Pittsburgh it wasn't something that we celebrated here.
"But I've seen it at a whole different level in our games and on tape. He's really hard to block. I can tell you that he goes all the time, 1,000 miles an hour, and he's got a bevy of moves and he's very talented, very powerful, very quick. He understands their defense inside and out. Is well-coached. We just got to try to find a way to keep him a little bit under control if we can, and that's a tall task."
This season, finding any way to keep the opposing defense off their quarterbacks has been a chore for the Ravens. Their 54 sacks allowed are three more than the Bears and Bengals for the NFL lead this season -- a dubious stat nobody wants to lead the league in.
The Steelers, meanwhile, took over the NFL's sack lead last week with nine against the Browns, including four by Watt. They enter the game with 52, five more than the Rams. It's their fifth consecutive season with 50 or more sacks and if they lead the league in that statistic, it would mark their fifth consecutive season doing so.
No team in NFL history had ever led the league in sacks two consecutive seasons before the Steelers' current run.
"I don't know that we look at it in that way, from a sack numbers standpoint," said Tomlin when asked if it's a sense of pride. "Sure, we want to get to the quarterback. Sure, we expect to be elite in that area. But it's more about wrecking games. We want to affect the natural flow of the offense in a negative way, particularly at the quarterback position.
"Sacks is a statistical way that it's reflected."
The Ravens most certainly want to keep Watt from wrecking this game.
The question is whether they have the horses with which to do it. Not only have they allowed the league's most sacks, they have the second-most holding penalties this season with 29.
But blocking Watt is hardly ever a one-man job. Opponents have tried everything against him with very little success.
"That's a challenge. I think everybody has had special plans for him going into the game," Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. "That's a fact, really. And you better, because if you don't, he's really going to eat you up. So, we're definitely going to pay special attention to him. He's a very, very productive player. He plays hard, knows how to play the game, knows angles, knows how to create angles. He has a really good move set with his hands, really good head fakes, et cetera. He's just a really talented, good football player that is having an amazing season."
So, Watt expects extra attention from tight ends, from wide receivers, from running backs. Often times it looks like he's running an obstacle course to the quarterback. But he usually gets there.
"I've pretty much seen the tight end chips, the running back chips, the tight end and running back chips, the slides (of the offensive line). I don't know if anything really sticks out," Watt said of ways opponents have tried to stop him. "I feel like I've seen everything. I'm still trying to develop plans on how to attack everything, but I feel like I've gotten better feel for it. Last year and in the past, when I did get double teams and chips, I didn't quite know how to handle them as well."
And if he's getting that kind of attention, it means the rest of the defense is free to make more plays.
"It's all about respect," Watt said of the extra attention he gets. "And if they're doing that, it means you're doing something right."
THE TEN DATA POINTS
• With a win, Tomlin would tie Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for 18th place on the NFL's all-time coaching win list with 154. His .642 winning percentage is 10th best all-time.
• Roethlisberger is 65-21-1 in his career against AFC North opponents with 131 touchdown passes and 81 interceptions in those 86 games.
• Roethlisberger needs three touchdown passes to tie Dan Marino for seventh-most in NFL history. He is four behind Phillip Rivers for sixth place. The Ravens have allowed 30 touchdown passes this season, second-most in the league.
• Harris has 1,612 yards from scrimmage, which is 18 yards behind San Francisco's Deebo Samuel for third-most in the NFL this season. Harris' total yards from scrimmage are currently 22nd-most for a rookie in league history. He can move into 16th place if he hits his average of just over 100 yards per game.
• The Ravens allowed 8.2 yards per pass attempt, highest in the NFL. The Ravens allow 12.9 yards per catch, by far the most in the NFL. The Lions are second at 12.2 yards per catch. The Steelers allow 11.3 yards per reception.
• Opponents have run the ball 462 times against the Steelers. By comparison, opponents have run the ball just 348 times against the Ravens, third-fewest in the NFL.
• The Steelers have forced 19 turnovers and turned the ball over 19 times. The Ravens are minus-9 in turnover ratio, having turned it over 23 times while forcing just 14.
• Opponents have fumbled an NFL-high 19 times against the Steelers. But the Steelers have only recovered eight of them.
• The Steelers have 89 tackles for a loss, second-most in the NFL behind the 49ers, who have 90. Baltimore has 68.
• The Ravens have allowed 95 receptions for 1,032 yards and eight touchdowns to opposing tight ends. The receptions are third-most in the NFL, the yards fifth and the touchdowns tied for fifth. The Steelers have allowed 72 receptions for 745 yards and four scores to opposing tight ends.
THE FANTASY CORNER
Six weeks in a row in the money with a 148.36-point lineup that included Darrel Williams, Devin Singletary, Zay Jones and the Steelers defense as big hits. Let's try to finish strong this week. Remember, I'm building a fantasy lineup using Draft Kings and a $50,000 salary cap.
Quarterback: Matthew Stafford, Rams ($6,700) -- I was going to go with Justin Fields, but he got COVID. So we'll pivot to Stafford in a game the Rams will be trying to win.
Running back: Ramondre Stevenson, Patriots ($5,900), D'Onte Foreman, Titans ($5,700) -- With Damien Harris hurting, Stevenson should get a heavy workload against the Dolphins. Foreman gets the soft Houston defense in a game the Titans need to clinch home field advantage.
Wide receiver: Zay Jones, Raiders ($4,500), Cooper Kupp, Rams ($9,700), Christian Kirk, Cardinals, ($6,000) -- Jones has gotten at least seven targets in each of the past four games and the Raiders need to win. He had a monster day last week. He's remains a bargain. The Rams need to win to clinch the division title. And Kupp could be going for the receptions and yardage records and stacks with Stafford. Kirk and the Cards also have something to play for. I'll take him as an upside bargain.
Tight end: Jared Cook, Chargers ($3,800) -- Cooks had seven catches for 70 yards and a score in the first meeting with the Raiders and the Chargers need a win to get into the postseason.
Flex: Kenneth Gainwell, Eagles ($4,600) -- This is a total shot in the dark, but the rest of the Eagles running backs are either banged up or on the COVID-19 List. Plus, Philadelphia might want to get the rookie some run before the playoffs.
Defense: Steelers ($3,000) -- I'll take who is the NFL's leading sack team for $3,000 Alex. This is a bargain again, especially against a team that has allowed a league-worst 54 sacks.
