Steelers Alejandro Villanueva Makes Provocative Claim That The Ravens Are Not A Real Rival

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have had many historic and tough battles since Baltimore's inaugural season in the NFL in 1996. The two organizations have had many regular season clashes, as well as intensified games in the postseason. The Steelers lead the all-time series between the two teams, 35-25, and also have three playoff victories over Baltimore in four attempts. Despite all the history between the two franchises, former Steelers lineman Alejandro Villanueva doesn't view the matchup as a rivalry. 

Former Steelers Pro Bowl OT Doesn't Think The Ravens Are A Rival

Villanueva has a unique perspective on the relationship between Pittsburgh and Baltimore, as he played for both organizations in his career. He was a 2x Pro Bowl left tackle for the Steelers in seven seasons. He left the team following the 2020 season and played one year with the Ravens in 2021 before retiring. On a recent appearance on The Ramon Foster Show, former Steelers offensive guard, Ramon Foster was talking about how the week the Steelers play the Ravens is always special because of the rivalry, which Villanueva was quick to disagree with.

"It's not special, I hate when people say that. No, to me, I matched up very well against Terrell Suggs, so for me, the game was not as difficult. When they had Za'Darius Smith, he was a challenge, but fortunately for me, he was only there for three years. We always matched up well against Baltimore. For me specifically, that was not as challenging."

To be clear, Terrell Suggs was one of the best defensive players of his generation and earned seven Pro Bowls, as well as some All-Pro nods. He even won the AP Defensive Player Of The Year Award in 2011. Villanueva saying that he matched up well against one of the best defensive players in the league, which is why he felt the game wasn't a rivalry, is hilarious. Villanueva might have had an "easy" task with Suggs, but the rest of the Steelers team could certainly feel the physicality of that rivalry. 

The Steelers-Ravens rivalry is one of the biggest in the NFL, but who would be the next biggest rival for Pittsburgh? Some fans may say the Dallas Cowboys because of the three times the two have met in the Super Bowl, but they are in the NFC and the Steelers don't play them often enough. Villanueva shared with Foster who he thought the Steelers' biggest rivals were during his time in Pittsburgh. 

"For me, from what I remember, it's Cincinnati. Cincinnati was the rivalry where I would get the jitters and I would get like the full body adrenaline shots when we had to play that defensive line of [Wallace] Gillberry, Michael Johnson, Geno [Atkins], [Carlos] Dunlap. The linebackers were very good. I thought Philly was a very tough defense too, but I never thought the Baltimore game was going to be vey bad."

The Cincinnati Bengals are also widely considered one of the Steelers' bigger rivalries due to them playing twice a year in the AFC North. Since 1970, the Steelers have won 70 games against the Bengals while only losing 39 games. They also have two wins over Cincinnati in the postseason, including the victory in the controversial 2015 Wild Card game when multiple personal fouls on Cincinnati put the Steelers in field goal range in the final seconds. 

The Steelers have still managed to take care of their divisional rivalries since Villanueva retired. In 2023, the Steelers swept both the Ravens and the Bengals and went 5-1 in the AFC North overall. Whether Villanueva considers the Ravens a rivalry or not, Pittsburgh has been able to take care of business against them consistently as of late, as they are 7-1 against them since the 2020 season. This includes two victories over Baltimore in 2021 when Villanueva was a member of the divisional foe.

What do you think of Villanueva's comments? Let us know in the comments below!

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