Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers Features
Former Ravens Open Up About Switching Sides with Steelers
Steelers Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott and Jeremiah Moon share their thoughts on switching sides in one of the NFL's best rivalries.
PITTSBURGH — It’s not often players switch sides between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, but several did this year and it has only added to one of the NFL’s best rivalries.
Among those who traded in their purple and black for black and gold is linebacker Patrick Queen, the No. 28 overall pick by the Ravens in the 2020 NFL Draft. Over the past four years, Queen created one of the best inside linebacker duos in the league with Roquan Smith, but he revealed the Ravens never even offered him a contract when his rookie deal expired in the offseason.
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That, of course, has only added more fuel to his fire this week, but if the Steelers were also hoping to get a sneak peek into the Ravens locker room, they may be a bit disappointed.
“Same exact way,” Queen said when asked what the Ravens locker room is like on Steelers week. “We understand what type of football is gonna be played. So practice is gonna be more intense. Meetings are gonna be more intense. Everybody’s gonna be locked in.”
Another sentiment that is no secret from the Ravens locker room is head coach John Harbaugh’s belief that “You’re not a Raven until you beat the Steelers.”
Linebacker Jeremiah Moon, who also flipped sides this season, never officially earned that label. He was a member of the practice squad in their only win against the Steelers during his two years with the Ravens.
He seems to be just fine with that, though, as he shared the Steelers’ secret to their recent success is treating it like any other game.
“I feel like Mike T. is a coach that takes every game like it’s the last game. He has great insight. He’s been doing it for a really long time,” Moon said. “Like he says, he just gives capable men information and it’s up to us to execute.”
Safety DeShon Elliott, another former Raven from 2018-21, has quickly adopted that attitude, too.
“Just another game, man,” he said. “It’s football. I wanna ball, but I wanna ball every week. So I wouldn’t say like it’s anything special. It’s just football.”
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While there are several differences between the Steelers and Ravens, they may not be as different as many may think. Both teams have prided themselves on playing a physical brand of football.
“Two places that know how to play great football, physical football, bloody football,” Queen said. “A whole lot of trash talking. A whole lot of hitting.”
That’s why Moon isn’t surprised the two teams have happily take from each other as of late.
“Both head coaches have been in the same place for a long time,” he said. “So I feel like coaches like what they like and that’s the type of players that they bring in.”
The first 60 meetings between the Steelers and Ravens have not disappointed with 25 of them being decided by three or less points.
The newest chapter that will be written in Week 11 should be no different and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is looking forward to seeing his former Ravens seek revenge to remain atop the AFC North.
“We’re just simply writing the latest chapter this week with some new faces, new faces for us and new faces for them as well,” Tomlin said. “Guys get an opportunity to be a component of this thing, and even some guys flipping sides, you know, guys like Patrick Queen and [Jeremiah] Moon being on this side of it, just like Arthur Maulet a year or so ago, moving to their side of it.”
