ExtremeRavens Posted December 21, 2024 Posted December 21, 2024 Not a hump. That was Marlon Humphrey’s ruling as he considered what’s at stake in the Ravens’ upcoming showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs? They qualify as a mountainous obstacle. But Humphrey wouldn’t ascribe the same difficulty to toppling the Steelers, even though they have defeated the Ravens in eight of nine matchups over the past five seasons. The veteran cornerback said he didn’t realize the recent history of the AFC North’s most enduring rivalry was so lopsided. “Eight out of the last nine — it’s not a good number at all,” Humphrey said. “This means a lot to a lot of people. It means a lot to me being here for a long time, and if you don’t understand, the message will be very clear as the week goes on.” It’s not that Humphrey and his teammates are downplaying the importance of Saturday’s rematch at M&T Bank Stadium. They know the Steelers made them look bad five weeks ago in an 18-16 defeat. They know that if they don’t step up this time, their quest to repeat as AFC North champs will officially end. That alone makes it their most important game of the season to date. But there’s something more existential at stake, a point team leaders are less eager to address. Fair or not, many fans view the Ravens of the Lamar Jackson era as front-runners — brilliant as any team in football when a game unfolds their way but no sure bet to put their best foot forward when a worthy rival punches them in the mouth. The Steelers are always eager to throw that punch, even when they’re overmatched on paper. Under coach Mike Tomlin, they always seem to believe they’ll be the last ones standing at the end of a rugged, messy, one-score game. Thus beating Pittsburgh would say much about the 2024 Ravens’ capacity for standing up to difficulty. Their recent record in the rivalry is particularly vexing because the Ravens have outplayed the Steelers overall since Jackson joined the team in 2018, going 75-38 to Pittsburgh’s 67-44-2 with two more playoff appearances than their nemesis. Again this year they’re darlings of the analytics community — No. 1 in DVOA, 10 spots above Pittsburgh — and the sportsbooks, which opened them as a six-point favorite for Saturday’s game. And still, the head-to-head record says what it says. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we were just unlucky,'” Humphrey said, reflecting on his team’s losses to the Steelers. “I think Tomlin wants to just keep the game close, keep the game close and then win it at the end, and honestly, that strategy works pretty well when they play us.” He respects that Pittsburgh will come right at the Ravens with a determined running game and a craving for contact. “There’s a lot of teams out there that you can say, ‘They weren’t really tough. They didn’t really bring it,’” Humphrey said. “That’s one thing that I love about the rivalry — there’s not a lot of fair dodging. They’re going do what they’re going to do. They’ll run the ball, take their shots — it’s not really going to be a secret, and they feel that they can do that and be successful, and we’ve got to feel that we can stop it and do the opposite.” Matt Freed/ The Associated Press“Obviously, some games are hyped up, and some games aren’t, but for us, it’s being consistent, week in and week out,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said of facing the Steelers. (Matt Freed/AP) An honest look in the mirror for a team that will likely have to win an excruciating playoff game or two to achieve its Super Bowl aspirations. The Ravens’ 9-5 record is hardly devoid of quality wins. They blew out AFC No. 2 seed Buffalo at home, hung 41 points on Denver’s No. 1 scoring defense, slapped around the rising Chargers and Buccaneers and survived a pair of wild back-and-forth shootouts with the Bengals. They have rallied from double-digit deficits, ground opponents down with the NFL’s most efficient running attack, made clutch stops in the red zone. But losses to the Steelers, Chiefs and Eagles fed into the notion that they can be knocked off stride against tough-minded opponents on the grandest stages. It’s not a narrative Ravens players care to encourage by portraying this game as a referendum on their grit. “You try to go week by week and just try to focus on each game and doing your job,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “Obviously, some games are hyped up, and some games aren’t, but for us, it’s being consistent, week in and week out.” Andrews is as intense as anyone in the organization, but good luck getting him to ruminate on the stakes of any one game, no matter what he might be thinking or feeling. “Obviously, we’ve lost eight of the last nine, but I don’t think we’re going into this game like, ‘We can’t lose nine out of 10,’” safety Kyle Hamilton said. “We’re just trying to win this one game and take it one week at a time, and I know you all hear that a lot from us, but it’s really true. We have one-week lives, kind of, and last week, we were all about the Giants and got that win. Now, we’re all about the Steelers, and whatever comes next, comes next.” On the most recent episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” coach John Harbaugh referred to December as “the real season,” his implication being that if the Ravens can get on a roll now, it might carry them all the way through the playoffs. Another AFC North title is on the table if they beat the Steelers and win out to finish 12-5. That would mean home-field advantage in the wild-card round and a likely matchup against the Chargers or Broncos, teams they’ve already defeated soundly. But it’s difficult to get players to rank specific goals for the rest of the regular season. “We want everything,” wide receiver Zay Flowers said. “We want to end it the right way. We want to go out with a bang these last three games, finish the right way going into the playoffs with a little momentum and do what we got to do there.” Unsaid but obvious is that another loss to Pittsburgh would set them back on all those fronts and open them up for two weeks of uncomfortable questioning headed into the postseason. The stakes Saturday could not be higher. Have a news tip? Contact Childs Walker at daviwalker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6893 and x.com/ChildsWalker. View the full article Quote
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