play0:36Season is on the line for Baltimore in Week 18Jamison Hensley reports on the AFC North winner-take-all matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers in Week 18.
play0:51T.J. Watt set to return from punctured lung in Week 18Brooke Pryor discusses T.J. Watt’s return ahead of the Steelers’ pivotal Week 18 matchup against the Ravens.
Jamison HensleyCloseJamison HensleyESPN Staff WriterJamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.Follow on XBrooke PryorCloseBrooke PryorESPN Staff WriterBrooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.Follow on XJan 4, 2026, 01:31 PM ET
Rod Woodson expects a close game between Ravens and Steelers (2:06)NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Rod Woodson joins Rich Eisen to preview the winner-take-all matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers. (2:06)
Season is on the line for Baltimore in Week 18Jamison Hensley reports on the AFC North winner-take-all matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers in Week 18.
Jamison Hensley reports on the AFC North winner-take-all matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers in Week 18.
T.J. Watt set to return from punctured lung in Week 18Brooke Pryor discusses T.J. Watt’s return ahead of the Steelers’ pivotal Week 18 matchup against the Ravens.
Brooke Pryor discusses T.J. Watt’s return ahead of the Steelers’ pivotal Week 18 matchup against the Ravens.
Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7)
Does it matter who’s the starting QB for Baltimore?
What’s the biggest concern with the Ravens’ defense?
How does this game impact Harbaugh’s future with the Ravens?
How can the Steelers and Rodgers better absorb Metcalf’s absence?
How has Pittsburgh’s defense changed since their Week 14 win?
Over at John Harbaugh’s house on Sunday, some of the Baltimore Ravens players and members of the coaching staff gathered to cheer on the Cleveland Browns to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It became the most nervous three hours of the season for the Ravens, who sat helplessly knowing they needed the Browns to upset the Steelers to keep their postseason hopes alive. When Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ fourth-and-goal pass sailed incomplete to seal Cleveland’s unlikely 13-6 victory, the Ravens erupted in a celebration that Harbaugh described as “uncorked and raucous.” They jumped around. They hugged each other — a lot.
“I think when you take a step back, especially as a Ravens fan or in the organization, you have to nod your head a little bit and go, ‘Yes, that’s probably the way it should be,'” Harbaugh said.
For three decades, this feud has become must-watch TV because of the brutal hits, the nail-biting margins of victory and the games’ high stakes. This rivalry has defined the cultures of both teams to the point that, in Baltimore, players repeatedly tell newcomers that “you’re not a Raven until you beat the Steelers.”
When Baltimore plays at Pittsburgh on Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), it will mark the first “winner-take-all” game in the final week of the regular season between the two teams and only the second winner-take-all regular-season finale in the division since the AFC North was formed in 2002.
It could also mark the end of an era for the losing franchise with both coaches facing a surge of external criticism even as each locker room publicly backs its leaders.
“This is going to be a slugfest,” said CBS analyst Bill Cowher, who coached the Steelers from 1992 to 2006. “And this is going to be one of those games where it becomes very personal. This is going to go back to the old Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game. You know what? No hitting during the week because we’re going to leave it all out on that field.”
ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley and Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor take a look at each team’s matchup with a focus on the quarterbacks, keys to each team’s defense and the potential impact of this game’s outcome on both head coaches.
It absolutely does, although the answer isn’t clear-cut. The Ravens are at their best with a healthy Lamar Jackson, but the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player hasn’t been at full strength for a majority of this season because of hamstring, knee, ankle, toe and back injuries. But Jackson left no doubt when he said on Jan. 1 that he’ll play Sunday night.
In the final two weeks of the regular season, Jackson is 8-0 with 18 touchdown passes and one interception.
But Jackson, 28, just hasn’t looked like himself since returning from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of October. In his past eight games, he has thrown eight touchdown passes and five interceptions while averaging 21.7 yards rushing per game.
In the past two games that Jackson has sat out, backup Tyler Huntley has led the Ravens to their two biggest wins of the season, defeating a couple of playoff teams in the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. But Harbaugh has made it clear there is no quarterback controversy, saying, “If Lamar’s ready to go, he’s playing. That’s it, for sure.”
Big plays in the passing game. Baltimore has given up an NFL-worst 32 completions on passes of at least 20 yards in the air this season, including a season-high six during the 41-24 Week 17 win at Green Bay.
Harbaugh said the issue was poor technique by the cornerbacks and a lack of communication among the defensive backs. It was a surprising comment considering the Ravens’ secondary is loaded with four first-round picks: cornerbacks Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Malaki Starks.
In the season’s first meeting with Pittsburgh in Week 14, the Ravens’ pass defense was a problem. Aaron Rodgers threw for a season-high 284 yards and stretched the field for one of the few times this season. Three of Rodgers’ completions went to DK Metcalf for 28, 41 and 52 yards. With Metcalf suspended, the only Steelers player with multiple catches on throws over 20 yards this season is tight end Pat Freiermuth with two.
“I think we need to play smart but not play timid. I think there’s a fine line there,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “Whoever loses the game, it’s their last game of the year. So whenever the outcome, you don’t want to be sitting in the locker room saying you could have done more.”
Earlier this week, he was asked if Sunday’s game will serve as a “referendum” for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and himself.
Though the Steelers are on track to get Calvin Austin III (hamstring) back after he sat out the Browns game, shifting targets to running backs Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell could have a bigger impact on the passing game.
Gainwell, who leads the Steelers in targets this season, spent a lot of the Browns game giving Rodgers extra protection against Myles Garrett. But the Ravens’ pass rush isn’t as formidable. Gainwell had six catches on seven targets for 29 yards in the first meeting with the Ravens, while Warren had three catches on three targets for 49 yards and a touchdown.
And it’s not only Metcalf’s absence the Steelers have to absorb. They’ll also be without tight end Darnell Washington, who fractured his forearm against the Browns and was put on injured reserve after undergoing surgery Tuesday. Washington is an irreplaceable target with his massive 6-foot-7 and more than 300-pound frame, but tight end Pat Freiermuth could be a good candidate to have an expanded role as an in-line blocker.
The Ravens have the league’s fourth-worst passing defense, giving up an average of 245.3 passing yards to opponents. And over the past three weeks, they have been the second-worst passing defense (285.3) after the New York Jets (314.3).
Since giving up 217 rushing yards to the Ravens — including 94 to Derrick Henry — the Steelers haven’t allowed an opponent to post 100 rushing yards. In the past three weeks, the Steelers have held opponents to a league-best 52 rushing yards per game. Perhaps even more remarkable, they did it without edge rusher T.J. Watt, who could return this week after a three-game absence from a partially punctured lung.
A key part of that equation is the return of rookie defensive tackle Derrick Harmon. When Harmon plays, the Steelers hold opponents to an average of 80 fewer rushing yards per game.
Harmon returned from his second knee injury of the season against Detroit and helped the Steelers’ defense hold Jahmyr Gibbs to two yards on seven carries. Though the Steelers lost to the Browns, the run defense stood tall and held the Browns to 3.1 yards per carry.
The reality is that while Harmon has been a boost to the run game, contributions across the board from Queen, Heyward, Malik Harrison, Nick Herbig and Alex Highsmith have elevated this unit to being a defensive strength after it was a significant weakness early in the season.
“You can kind of see the momentum trying to take over, and everybody’s feeling it. … Confidence is you just knowing that you could do it, but momentum is you doing it, and then building off of it. And I feel like that’s what we’ve been doing.”
“I think a lot of the criticism is kind of unworthy, because a lot of times it’s on the players’ shoulders, the outcomes of games,” Queen said. “Sometimes it could be coaching-related, but for the most part, we go out there and perform and if defense is letting the offense score a whole bunch or the offense turning the ball over and stuff, I don’t think that really relies on coaches as much.”
Yet, it feels as if the Steelers and Tomlin enter this AFC North rivalry game at a crossroads, and the outcome will go a long way to determining their path forward.