Expect it to be close in another AFC North showdown Sunday

by Bo Marchionte
Published October 5, 2023, 5:37 PM

Pittsburgh, PA – Toss out the records and put on the boxing gloves and get ready to rumble as the premier rivalry in the National Football League takes center stage in Pittsburgh this weekend. The crème de la crème of NFL rivalries get after it at Acrisure Stadium when the Steelers play host to the Baltimore Ravens.

Pittsburgh are winners of five of the last six games and lead the all-time series 33-25 between these two powerhouses of the AFC North. Throughout their brutal and barbarian matchups, Pittsburgh has averaged 20.2 points per game over the 19.5 by the Ravens.

Talk about close!

“It’s going to be a close game,” Miles Boykin said this week after practice on the South Side. “A few plays are going to make the difference whenever we play.”

Boykin is right and the numbers back it up. Despite the Ravens looking like contenders for the AFC title and Pittsburgh looking lost and searching for any identity. Odds are when the final whistle sounds this game is going to come down to the final drive. The reason for these close games is the intensity that both sides bring to the contests.

“You think every football game is physical which it is but then there are some games that are different, and this is one of them,” Boykin said.

He knows both sides of this rivalry better than most. After he was originally drafted by the Ravens in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Boykin spent the first three years of his career in Baltimore prior to being claimed off waivers in April of 2022.

“Obviously still a little thought of respect for the team and organization,” Boykin said about the Ravens. “Then obviously coming to an organization like this that is very similar in its own ways. From that standpoint I just know that these games are going to be the most physical games of the season.”

Pittsburgh faces the challenge of upsetting the Ravens with Lamar Jackson under center. Once again, the quarterback is having an MVP type debut to the 2023 season. Their defense is as good as advertised leaving the Steelers as 4.5 points dogs at home. Unbelievable that it’s Mike Tomlin’s third home game as the underdog this season.

That is when being more physically dominant can erase the opposition’s talent level and create a level playing field by simply smacking the other team in the face. That face plant mentality that sends a message that today is going to be a long day. In this rivalry both teams look to exercise that game plan to perfection.

“Anytime you play in a divisional game it’s physical, but it always has a different feel when it’s the Ravens,” Boykin said. When we play each other, they know what we’re going to do, and we know what they’re going to do. So, at the end of the day it’s about who plays the cleanest football and who doesn’t turn it over. Who makes big plays when they need to be made. It’s going to be a physical ass game.”

Boykin is right. It is going to be a physical ass game!

Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com