Pittsburgh Steelers: What Baltimore Week means to the Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a loss, as are the Baltimore Ravens. But as this rivalry matchup happens twice a year, this one is critical.

Football season is a special time in Western Pennsylvania. A Sunday just doesn’t feel holy without the Pittsburgh Steelers about to kickoff after religious services. To say Steelers football is a religion to the city of Pittsburgh would be to say water is wet. Each game is special when the black and gold play. However, for two weeks a season, the mood in the air shifts. The focus is more intensified, the days pass slower, and the sky reigns with two simple words: Baltimore Week.

Come Sunday, it will have been approximately 280 days since Antonio Brown’s last gasping stretch reached the end zone that left the Ravens with coal in their stockings and a warm seat on the couch for the playoffs. Division rivals are always expected to make a good football game, no matter the scenario. With each team playing their other three fellow division opponents twice a year, you get a feel for each of your neighbors. Each divisional game holds some sort of significance, yet Baltimore is different.

The Browns still have yet to come full circle and develop into a legitimate threat in the AFC North, and the Bengals haven’t come close to fulfilling their potential as a team, leaving that team four hours southeast in Maryland as the closest match to the Steelers in the North. Former Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward knows all too well what the rivalry means, and captured it perfectly when interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in his playing days:

"“The coaches hate each other, the players hate each other… There’s no calling each other after the game and inviting each other out to dinner. But the feeling’s mutual: They don’t like us, and we don’t like them. There’s no need to hide it, they know it, and we know it. It’s going to be one of those black and blue games.”"

The meetings between the Steelers and Ravens have provided some of the best games in memory, and have produced numerous moments that will last forever in the rivalry’s lore. Whether it be a Troy Polamalu interception to seal the AFC Championship or a Baltimore blowout on opening day, these games contribute to the heralded status of the league’s best rivalry.

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The circumstances behind this semi-annual meeting typically carry a lot of weight in terms of playoff implications, and a Week 4 matchup in Baltimore continues the trend. With both teams standing at 2-1 and coming off extremely disappointing losses, the winner of this matchup will take an early lead in the race for the division crown and will sit in the driver’s seat until these two meet again in Pittsburgh for Week 14.

But what does this Week 4 contest mean for Pittsburgh now? This game is, up to this point, the most pivotal of the season — not only in terms of wins and losses, but as a measure of where the team is at on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, Pittsburgh has a lot of questions to answer come Sunday. Where are these supposed “Killer Bs” we’ve been hyped for all offseason? Can anybody besides Brown show up and make plays when it’s needed most? When is the Le’Veon Bell train going to pick up steam? The offense has been disappointing among many other terms, and that’s something even protests during the national anthem can’t be held accountable for.

Defensively, the world seems to be backwards. A secondary that has the Steelers second in total passing defense and 20th in rushing? Injuries have scattered Pittsburgh at multiple positions, but none are significant enough to outweigh the poor tackling displayed in last week’s effort in Chicago. Can Pittsburgh return to stopping the run and getting to the quarterback?

All of these questions funnel down to one game, a game that history tells us will be down to the wire.

I could sit here and tell you the Steelers haven’t won in Baltimore since 2012. I could spew facts about Roethlisberger’s poor play on the road, or his 10-9 record against the Ravens. All of which add up to absolutely nothing worth mentioning come 1:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday. Throw the records out, throw the numbers, win percentages, and everything else out. Baltimore doesn’t care, neither does Pittsburgh. If there’s only one game a year these two teams were able to win, you’d better bet your bottom dollar it would be against each other.

So what does Baltimore week mean? It means for 60 minutes, you get to hate the Ravens just that extra small tad more than usual. It means you have the opportunity to grab the division by Baltimore’s collar and say “this division goes through us”. This game is an opportunity for a bottled-up offense to explode on a team that just gave up 44 points to Jacksonville. It’s an opportunity to play that hard-hitting, physical brand of football that team in purple thinks they can do better than you.

Next: NFL 2017: One burning question for each team, Week 4

There’s never a bad time to remind Baltimore they’re still the little brother compared to Pittsburgh. Sunday’s game against the Ravens will be a chance for both teams to ignite their season and right the ship after gloomy performances in the week prior. Mike Tomlin once summed up the rivalry perfectly when he referred to it as “Two trains, one track”.

Translation: Those chin straps are buckled extra tight this week. All aboard.