Perhaps the Ravens-Steelers rivalry isn’t quite at the level of its heyday when the likes of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu and James Harrison were leading each team’s defences and these games were absolutely brutal. In fact, it was great betting strategy to wager against both the Ravens and Steelers the week after they played because players on both sides were mentally and physically wiped out.

NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis

It’s still one of the NFL’s best rivalries, though, and these AFC North foes usually play close games. In the past six meetings, only one has been decided by more than seven points with four of them by four points or fewer.

Pittsburgh leads the series 27-21 including playoffs and has followed a four-game skid vs. Baltimore with three straight victories. Last year in the Steel City, Pittsburgh escaped with a 39-38 victory as Chris Boswell made a 46-yard field goal with 42 seconds left. Ben Roethlisberger threw it a whopping 66 times and completed 44 for 506 yards and two scores. Le’Veon Bell ran for two scores and Antonio Brown had 213 yards receiving. Despite those gaudy numbers, the Steelers trailed 38-29 with just under seven minutes to go. The teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards offence, and that’s definitely unusual in this series.

The Steelers have won six of the past 10 in the series as a favourite but covered only three of the 10.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens gave up 34 points in their lone road game and lost by 11 in Cincinnati in Week 2. In their two home games, they have surrendered just 17 combined points in double-digit victories. It was 27-14 over Denver on Sunday. Joe Flacco continued his bounce-back season with 277 yards passing, a touchdown and no turnovers. He has a new group of receivers to work with. The Ravens have scored a touchdown on all 12 trips to the red zone this year. That’s an NFL record to start a season.

Alex Collins added 68 yards and a TD on the ground vs. Denver. Justin Tucker had two 52-yard field goals – he now has six career games with multiple field goals of 50 yards or more, a league record, and has made his last eight attempts from at least 50 yards.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh is at two disadvantages here right from the get-go: It’s on a short week after winning at Tampa Bay on Monday night and remains without Bell, arguably the NFL’s top all-around back, as he would rather be jet skiing than earning around $850,000 (U.S.) per game as he is refusing to sign his franchise tag. He will eventually, but perhaps not until after Week 10 for financial/service time reasons we won’t bore you with.

Now, there’s talk the Steelers are tired of his act, ready to move forward with James Conner and trade Bell. So maybe this is all resolved by Sunday. The Steelers likely saved their season with that 30-27 win over the Bucs as Roethlisberger had a big night.

Ravens vs. Steelers Prediction