Easily the best of the three matchups on the American Thanksgiving holiday Thursday is the nightcap as the Pittsburgh Steelers welcome their bitter AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers opened as 3.5-point favourites on the NFL odds with a total of 46.

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While Detroit annually hosts the first American Thanksgiving game each year and Dallas the second, the night game doesn’t have a permanent host. The past two years, the game featured the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. The NFL has been scheduling intradivisional games in that slot.

It’s the third time playing on the holiday for the Ravens and they last did in 2013 when they beat the visiting Steelers 22-20. Baltimore was the defending Super Bowl champion then. It’s the ninth holiday game for the Steelers and first since 20-16 when they won 28-6 at Indianapolis.

The Steelers look for the season sweep of the Ravens as Pittsburgh was a 28-24 upset winner Week 8 in Baltimore. Reining NFL MVP Lamar Jackson rarely turns the ball over but for some reason the Steelers befuddle him as Jackson had two picks (one returned for a touchdown) and two lost fumbles in that one. He did throw for two scores but was just 13-for-28.

The Ravens outgained the Steelers a whopping 457-221 but those turnovers were everything. Ben Roethlisberger threw for two scores, including one to impressive Canadian rookie receiver Chase Claypool.

The teams have split the past 10 meetings straight up, and Baltimore is 6-3-1 ATS in them.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens had the best record in the NFL last regular season but would not make the playoffs as things stand currently after losing for the third time in four games Sunday, 30-24 in overtime at home to the Tennessee Titans. Derrick Henry won it on a 29-yard TD run about halfway through OT. The Ravens led 21-10 in the third quarter.

Jackson was undefeated in his first 21 games in which he led by at least 10 points but has now lost two of his past three with a double-digit lead. “It looked like that team wanted it more than us,” Jackson said of Tennessee. The Ravens held Henry to 41 yards total in the first three quarters, but he had 92 yards in the fourth quarter and OT. Baltimore was without two injured starting defensive linemen in Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams.

Pittsburgh Steelers

This writer thought the unbeaten Steelers might be caught looking ahead to this game on Sunday against the awful Jacksonville Jaguars, but Pittsburgh easily took care of business 27-3. The Steelers picked off Jags rookie QB Jake Luton four times. Roethlisberger threw for two scores, with Claypool catching yet another one. The British Columbia native has eight TD grabs and two rushing scores on the year.

Cornerback Joe Haden and receiver Juju Smith-Schuster left the game with injuries. The Steelers are the 18th team in the Super Bowl era to start a season 10-0, and 10 of the previous 17 reached the Super Bowl. Six of them won it.

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