The Pittsburgh Steelers will have a chance to tie a record for dominance in their rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens with a win on Sunday.
The Steelers have beaten the Ravens in four consecutive games entering their Week 14 contest at Acrisure Stadium. If they win their fifth, that would tie the mark for the longest winning streak in the history of the rivalry.
Pittsburgh also won five straight games against Baltimore from 1997-99, just after the Ravens were founded in 1996. The Ravens best streak was four in a row, including a playoff game, from 2014-16.
The Ravens are certainly aware that the Steelers have had their number lately.
“It definitely has been brought up, for sure,” Ravens safety Chuck Clark said on Wednesday. “That’s the truth. You can’t hide from the truth and what the record has been. We’ve got to go out there and change that.”
If it doesn’t feel like the Steelers — who went 12-4 and 9-7-1 in each of the last two seasons while losing in the first round of the playoffs in each — have been that dominant recently, it could be because two of those games have come without star Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson missed the teams’ game in Pittsburgh in 2020 with COVID-19 and missed the end of the 2021 season with ankle injury. Jackson is currently dealing with a PCL sprain and could miss his third straight game in Pittsburgh this Sunday. Tyler Huntley, who started the final game between the teams in 2021, is in line to replace Jackson if he can’t play this week.
Jackson hasn’t played in Pittsburgh since 2019, when he was 19 of 28 for 161 yards and threw three interceptions, but a JuJu Smith-Schuster fumble in overtime led to a Justin Tucker game-winning field goal.
The Ravens swept the Steelers that season, knocking Pittsburgh out of playoff contention with a loss in Baltimore on Dec. 29. Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges started the two games for the Steelers that season with Ben Roethlisberger injured. Roethlisberger started each of the last four Steelers wins.
Kenny Pickett will be starting his first game of the rivalry on Sunday.
“They’re a great team, great opponent,” Pickett said. “A lot of history in the rivalry. I’m excited to be a part of it.”