When the Baltimore Ravens take the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11, it will mark something wholly new for Charm City's football franchise: their first showdown against Steelers QB Russell Wilson.
Now granted, the Ravens have played against Wilson before earlier in the former Wisconsin Badger's career, with the Ebony Birds facing off against him twice as a member of the Seattle Seahawks – in 2015 and 2019 – and again in 2022, when he was still a member of the Denver Broncos, but this time is different. Why? Because he will be wearing a black, white, and yellow jersey with a logo on only one side of his helmet.
Asked for his assessment of Wilson ahead of Week 11, Ravens coach John Harbaugh noted just how challenging he can be to defend, as not only can he still throw and scramble with the best of them, but you never really know who will get the ball when he's under center.
“[Russell Wilson] is making plays in the passing game for them. He's done a good job in the boots, the play action, drop-back passes,” Harbaugh told reporters. “He's using the full depth of the field. He's always been known for throwing the ‘Russell Wilson deep ball,' so he does that. He gets out and runs around, scrambles around, makes some throws, makes a couple runs here and there, so he's kind of doing what he's always done, and that's always impressive.”
Now sure, the Steelers will almost certainly get the ball to players like Najee Harris and George Pickens early and often in Week 11 just like they do practically every week, but when you consider just how much talent is on the Steelers' roster, you never know, maybe this will be the week Wilson gets something going to Calvin Austin, Scotty Miller, Cordarrelle Patterson, or another one of the team's supporting cast members.
John Harbaugh isn't putting any added weight on Ravens vs. Steelers
Elsewhere in his media session, Harbaugh was asked if Week 11's game means even more because it's against the Steelers, who are not only their division foes but arch-rivals. While he acknowledged that, yes, the game does hold special weight, he didn't want to give Pittsburgh any added weight, as at the end of the day, the Ravens know they can beat anybody if they play football the way they like to play it.
“Yes, It doesn't change in this sense, as I tell them that every week. Every game is a big game, and that's the thing in this league [that] I think is really important to understand. The more games you win, the better your position is, and it's not like basketball or baseball, where you play all those game, or hockey. You only play 17 regular season games – soon to be 18 – but that's not that many,” Harbaugh told reporters.
“In terms of what they mean, every game is really, super important. And then when you play in your division, they kind of become twice as important, because you give your division rival a loss, so it separates you, really, in one-and-a-half games, at least. So, that's just something that we really just have to understand, but we always do. That's why we say division games are so important. Pittsburgh is 7-2, so that becomes part of the equation, for sure. But in the end, that's not what matters; what matters is how we play. We go in there and execute, we go in there and play the brand of football that we're used to playing, that we know that we're going to play, and then we let the chips fly.”
Now granted, Harbaugh can say a million times that Ravens-Steelers is no different than any other game, but that doesn't mean pundits, fans, or even his own players will agree with him on that fact. No, when the two teams are this good, and this close in the standings, fans just have to know it will feel bigger and better than your run-of-the-mill football game.
Follow Us
Subscribe
