Week 8: Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens

Jordan DeFigio, @fidgenewton

Is there a better rivalry in all of football than the one between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens?

Twitter certainly doesn't seem to think so. And this highly anticipated matchup will take place on Sunday, November 1st at 1pm on CBS at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

MATCHUPS AT A GLANCE

Baltimore's opposition this season, much like the Steelers, has been a slew of struggling teams. Their only loss came against the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat them by 14. They've won against bad teams. But they have yet to beat a good team. This week will surely put them to the test.

Lamar Jackson may be a dual threat, posting a 63% completion for 1,135 yards, 10 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a 99.2 QBR through the air - all while putting up impressive numbers on the ground, too. He's racked up 346 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. His ability to pass and run make him difficult to play against, but he has yet to face the one defense who has both the top-graded pass rush and run defense. Jackson is dangerous when he has the freedom to do both. But if he's limited to the air, he struggles. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree hope to keep the pressure up enough to make him one dimensional. And frazzled.

Their backs have contributed, but compared to James Conner's 451 yards on 95 attempts for 4 touchdowns, Mark Ingram II's 225 yards on 50 attempt for 2 touchdowns and rookie J.K. Dobbins' 154 yards on 25 attempts and two touchdowns don't dazzle much. That of course has quite a bit to do with Jackson keeping the ball himself.

Or throwing it to Mark Andrews, Marquise Brown, or Willie Snead IV.

The Ravens have a slew of talent on offense, but the most impressive part of their game has been on defense. Marlon Humphrey leads the team in turnovers with 4 forced fumbles and an interception, Calais Campbell leads the team in sacks with 4, Patrick Queen leads the team in tackles with 44 and a 52-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, all have helped the defense outshine Jackson and company on offense. Along with former Steeler L.J. Fort and new acquisition via trade Yannick Ngakoue, they look to pressure Ben Roethlisberger and limit his looks to JuJu Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and James Washington who have each taken turns game to game putting up monster numbers.

Both teams will have their hands full tomorrow.

But whichever defense can set the tone first will win the game.

JORDAN'S PREDICTIONS

I really don't think the Steelers will sweep the series between Baltimore this year. The Ravens are just too good, and I think they're too good to lose at home especially following a week off. I don't sense a blow-out, in fact I think it will be really close and really low-scoring. But I think the Ravens will hand the Steelers their first loss of the season, winning 14-10. The hero of the game won't be lead man Jackson; instead, a supporting character will step up either on offense (Dobbins) or defense (new man on the scene Ngakoue) to seal the victory for Baltimore.

FINAL MUSINGS

The Ravens are coming off of their bye week, and under Harbaugh have a record of 10-2 in the games directly following a bye. It's also worth noting that they have the NFL's best record in November at 36-13. Perhaps even more noteworthy, the Steelers are 6-0 for only the second time in the history of the franchise. They look to improve to 7-0 and, so far this season, no one has found a way to stop them.

What are your predictions for the game tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below.

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