Ravens @ Steelers: Week 5 Game Preview
As the Baltimore Ravens head into Week 5 sitting atop the always competitive AFC North, they look forward towards divisional match up this Sunday in Pittsburgh against the Steelers. Ravens at 3-1 coming off of a win on the road in Cleveland where Baltimore took care of business 28-3, while the Steelers find themselves at a record of 2-2 after an embarrassing loss at the hands of the Texans in Houston last Sunday 30-6. Divisional match ups are typically always battles, AFC North match ups maybe even more so, I expect this one to be no different and neither do odds makers as this games over / under currently sits at 38 points which is good for the lowest over / under total of the week in the NFL.
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Baltimore has looked very good up to this point in the season. QB Lamar Jackson has put up impressive numbers individually over the last few weeks, including four rushing touchdowns to go along with 128 rushing yards. The passing attack has looked better since the return of TE Mark Andrews to the lineup after he missed week one, rookie WR Zay Flowers continues to establish a rapport with Jackson as well, as the Ravens have dealt with some injuries on the offensive side of the ball including in their receiver room. Touching on that, both WR’s Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham Jr. returned to practice on Wednesday. Some other key players practicing Wednesday for the Ravens include CB Marlon Humphrey and OT Ronnie Stanley, so it appears Baltimore is getting healthier heading into the match up this weekend. With things trending in the right direction health wise for the Ravens, they will look follow a similar game plan that Houston used this past week to beat Pittsburgh, that being limiting passing attack of the Steelers and by doing so Baltimore should have the fire power on the offensive side of the ball to handle their business this week even against a usually tough Steelers defense.
Photo Credit: Dale Zanine - USA TODAY Sports
Pittsburgh is coming off of a tough loss to the Houston Texans in Week 4. This season the Steelers as a unit have been very up and down in their performances this season, and now QB Kenny Pickett is limping into this matchup against Baltimore after suffering a knee injury this past week. Pickett says he’ll be ready to go by Sunday’s game against the Ravens, but it for sure is something to keep an eye on heading into the match up and during the game if it is limiting his mobility at all. As for the rest of the offense, it was a forgettable performance last week, as they managed just 225 yards of total offense, 114 of those coming on the ground. The Steelers will need to be more efficient in their passing attack this week in hopes to defeat Baltimore, as typically AFC North match ups aren’t super high scoring, not finding the end zone like they did last weekend in Houston will surely not be enough points to defeat the Ravens. For Pittsburgh to win, they need that well known Steelers defense to show up in a big way, and the offense to bounce back in an even bigger way.
