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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens Prediction: AFC North Rivals Meet on Sunday Night Football
Our NFL experts predict, pick and preview the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens Sunday night game, with kickoff time, TV channel and spread.
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Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: AFC North Rivals Meet on Sunday Night Football
The Steelers and Ravens rivalry has been so compelling lately that it was an easy choice for the NFL to flex their Week 17 matchup into the "Sunday Night Football" slot.Eight of their last 10 meetings have been one-score contests, including the one less than a month ago that Baltimore won 16-14 in Pittsburgh. Justin Tucker kicked three field goals in the victory as Pittsburgh outgained Baltimore, but the Ravens forced three Mitchell Trubisky interceptions.
Pittsburgh has won five of its last seven games, including last week's contest at home in which they honored Franco Harris with a 13-10 victory over the Raiders. It was certainly not the most prettiest victory, but Kenny Pickett threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to fellow rookie George Pickens with 46 seconds left, and that was the difference in the win. The Steelers' defense was all over the place and forced three turnovers while holding the Raiders to just 13 first downs and 201 yards. The unit has held five straight opponents to 17 points or fewer.
It wasn't pretty for the Ravens, either, but much like their opponent this week, they got the victory as they beat the Falcons 17-9. Tyler Huntley threw a touchdown pass, but it was Tucker once again who kicked three field goals — all less than 30 yards — in the win. Baltimore struggled terribly in the red zone, where they couldn't pay off multiple possessions with touchdowns. It was the ground game that was big, as Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins combined for 158 rushing yards.
Sunday Night Football: Pittsburgh (7-8) at Baltimore (10-5)
Kickoff: Sunday, Jan. 1 at 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
Spread: Ravens -2.5
Tickets: As low as $54 on SITickets.com*
Three Things to Watch
1. Playoff implications
The Ravens are one game behind the Bengals in the AFC North standings with one contest against them still to come in the final week of the regular season. It will be for the division if the Ravens win this week, regardless of what Cincinnati does on Monday night. Baltimore is also only one game up on the Chargers, so if they want to hold the No. 5 seed, they need to keep winning. The Steelers have a 4 percent chance of making the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight. It all begins with wins in their final two contests, but they are eliminated if the Dolphins win in New England earlier in the day.
2. Hot Steelers' defense
Tyler Huntley will be starting his fourth game of the season for the Ravens on Sunday. It'll be his second matchup against the Steelers, as he threw for 88 yards and ran for 31 more in Pittsburgh back on Dec. 11 before sustaining a concussion. He'll be facing a hot Steelers defense, so how much they decide to pass the ball will be decided by how much they'll be able to use the ground game. It was odd to see J.K. Dobbins only play one drive in the second half last week, but Gus Edwards was able to take over. In meeting one with the Steelers, the duo had 28 carries for 186 yards, and they'll need similar production if they hope to win.
3. Momentum for the rookie?
Kenny Pickett saw his five-game interception-less streak snapped last week against the Raiders in the frigid cold. Still, the rookie is making big plays and is starting to improve under center. He only threw one pass in the loss to the Ravens three weeks ago, so this will be his first extended action against the stout Baltimore defense. Baltimore is third defending the run (87.5 ypg) and 24th against the pass (239.5 ypg), so in theory, the signal-caller could be busy. The Steelers threw it 31 times in the first Ravens matchup to just 20 runs. But Pittsburgh will likely have to find a little more balance if they hope to win on Sunday night.
Final Analysis
The Steelers are hot, but if the Dolphins win earlier in the day, eliminating them, will they have the same fire? All that would be on the line is preventing head coach Mike Tomlin's first losing season. The Ravens are playing for a chance to make next week's game ultra-relevant and to at least keep hold of the No. 5 seed. As always, this one screams one-possession game, and in that case, I'll lean to the greatest kicker of all time: Justin Tucker. This one should be fun as we finally get a competitive prime-time game.
Prediction: Ravens 20, Steelers 16
