The Steelers may or may not play the Ravens on Thursday night. As of now, the game is still on and by all accounts it seems like it will be played. But with news out of Baltimore that as many as 10 Ravens players/staff/coaches have tested positive for the COVID-19, the status of the game is — as we in 2020 have learned — certainly not guaranteed to happen as scheduled.
It is the world in the era of COVID-19 and so there is no sense getting upset about it. All you have to do is relax and roll with the punches and just be thankful for the games that do go on as scheduled.
Sooner or later, the Steelers and Ravens will play this game and when they do it will likely be another classic. There are Steelers fans who believe that because J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram are out for this game (they are two of the players who tested positive) it will be a much easier game to win.
Those that believe that, though, apparently have not been paying attention to this series. It doesn't seem to matter who is in the uniforms of the respective teams. The games are almost always going to be close and competitive. And that's especially true since the Ravens and Steelers have two of the best five coaches in the NFL.
The Ravens are still going to be a problem for the Steelers. John Harbaugh is an excellent coach, the Ravens are a team that has a lot of pride and they still have a lot of talented players at their disposal. They also have a quarterback in Lamar Jackson who is as explosive of a player as there is in the NFL.
The classic example is the 2015 season when the Ravens had all kinds of injuries and just a miserable season all together. They were 4-10 and played against the Steelers, who were 9-5 and dreaming about winning the AFC North. The Ravens had Ryan Mallet playing quarterback and were missing some other key starters. Mallet threw for 274 yards and the Ravens upset the Steelers 20-17.
There have been countless other examples of this kind of thing — the team that was weakened by injuries or whatever winning — so this shouldn't have been a surprise. And it won't be a surprise to me if this game is much of the same: tough, physical and not decided until late.
That's one of the things that make this not just the best rivalry in the NFL, but the best rivalry in all of professional sports. These games are always fun and both coaches always have their teams ready to play.
That's also why I would argue this game — even though it is against a wounded Ravens team and is at Heinz Field — is still the Steelers' toughest test let. I would say it is their largest hurdle left to a 16-0 season, but that would imply that if they win, I think they will go undefeated if they win this game.
I'm not saying that because upsets are always possible. I mean, we see examples every week of teams who are supposed to win but don't for a variety of reasons. It is possible the Steelers could lose to a team they should beat, but if you are asking me what their toughest test is left on the schedule, I would say it is this game against the Ravens.
First off, home field advantage is not nearly as much of a factor this year because of the strict limits for fans. There just isn't that much of an atmosphere in the home stadiums and crowd noise isn't really a thing. So that's why even though this game is at Heinz Field as opposed to their upcoming game on the road against the Bills, this game in my mind is tougher.
The Steelers play two awful teams in Washington and Cincinnati. If they lose either, it will be because they just played horrendous football and turned the ball over a bunch. So throw those two games out because if the Steelers play reasonably well, they will win both games comfortably. The Browns are very much improved this year, but the Steelers should have very little issue beating them again.
That leaves the Ravens, Bills and Colts as the three most likely teams to give the Steelers their first loss. The Colts defense is tough, but Philip Rivers looks to me like a quarterback who is closing in on the point of his career when someone needs to tell him to get on with his life's work. He just isn't nearly as scary as he was four or five years ago.
The Bills are an entertaining team. That will be a tough game for the Steelers, too, but they should be able to score a lot of points against the Bills' defense. It will be a tough game, it just won't be as tough as this one because the Steelers and Ravens are bitter rivals and the games are always tough.
