Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Five Questions with the Enemy

Each week as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for their matchup we will go behind enemy lines to get the scoop on the team they’re facing with a member of the FanSided Network. Today we have Brett Foote, editor of Ebony Bird, giving us the info on the Baltimore Ravens. He discusses the loss of Jimmy Smith to the Ravens’ secondary, Joe Flacco’s ability to bounce back from a bad game, the success of Justin Forsett in Baltimore’s rushing game, and even gave a prediction for the game. Here’s what he had to say.

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How big is the loss of Jimmy Smith in the Ravens secondary coming up against a Steelers offense that just had the game they did against Indy?

It’s a huge, horrible loss.  Smith has been the only viable member of the secondary this season while even Lardarius Webb has struggled to regain his old form.  The Raven’s safety duo of Matt Elam and Darian Stewart has been among the worst in the NFL in coverage this season as well.  Jimmy Smith is the 7th rated corner by Pro Football Focus, and without him I don’t see how the Ravens are going to stop Antonio Brown unless they get a ton of pressure from their front seven.

Joe Flacco is coming off of his worst game of the season but has had some success in Pittsburgh. How confident are fans that he can bounce back?

Flacco has a long history of following up bad games with good ones.  Last week against the Bengals he had one of his worst games of the season, and he historically has struggled against Cincinnati as well.  I do think he can have a solid game in Pittsburgh Sunday night, but his wide receivers really struggled last week as well.  Nobody could get open against the Bengal’s corners and Flacco didn’t have Owen Daniels to throw to underneath.  Luckily for Flacco, the Steelers don’t have very good corners.

Has Justin Forsett’s success running the ball this season come as much of a surprise to Ravens fans as it has throughout the league?

It’s a huge surprise for sure.  Forsett was almost out of the league after the Jaguars let him go following his injury marred 2013 season.  Before that, he spent his career as basically a change of pace kind of guy.  He has really thrived this season in Gary Kubiak’s system, but much of the credit goes to the Raven’s offensive line, which has been the best in the NFL in run blocking through eight weeks.

The divisional games are staggered very oddly on the schedule this year but given the fact that Baltimore has already lost twice to the Bengals, is this more of a must win game for them?

I think so.  They really blew it last week by losing, especially when the Steelers and Browns won.  If they lose to the Steelers this week, they could be in big trouble.  The Bengals have the Jags at home while the Browns take on the Bucs at home.  In all likelihood both will win, which means a Ravens loss could see them go from first to tied for worst in two weeks.

What’s your prediction for the game?

It’s easy to look at what happened with both teams last week and predict a blowout win for the Steelers, especially since Jimmy Smith is out.  But these two teams historically play each other pretty close, with the exception of their first meeting this season.  I still think the Steelers will pull it off, but I’m thinking it will be more of a 23-20 game than a 50-14 game. Especially when you consider Big Ben’s history against the Ravens.

There you have it, Steeler Nation. What questions would you have asked? Head over to Ebony Bird to check out my answers to Brett’s questions!

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!