Ben Roethlisberger has always been the Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees of his position.
For 16 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback has haunted the Ravens, popping up to throw touchdown passes after he seemed buried beneath tangles of purple and black jerseys. As the AFC North heavyweights prepare to renew their rivalry the day after Halloween, Roethlisberger is back from a year lost to elbow surgery.
And if you ask the Ravens who’ve battled him longest, he still looks pretty scary at age 38.
“He gets the ball out a tad faster, but he’s still ‘Big Ben,'” outside linebacker Pernell McPhee said. “He’s still standing in the pocket. He still can take hits. He still can push defenders off of him and make great throws and be that Hall of Fame quarterback that he’s going to be in the future.”
With Roethlisberger leading the 6-0 Steelers into M&T Bank Stadium to face the 5-1 Ravens for divisional supremacy, the NFL’s most punishing border war feels revitalized. Pittsburgh’s quarterbacking institution will match up with reigning Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson for the first time. Meanwhile, the league’s two blitz-lovingest defenses will try to steal the show. Fans, who will return to the stands in limited numbers, could hardly ask for a tastier scenario on the first Sunday in November.
“This is what football fans want. This is what the NFL wants,” Roethlisberger said. “I didn’t get to play them last year, and I missed this. As much as this game hurts physically, you miss this rivalry.”
Ravens-Steelers lost a touch of zing in recent seasons. With Roethlisberger out, the Ravens won both games in 2019, including the regular-season finale with Robert Griffin III at quarterback. In 2018, both matchups happened in the first nine weeks of the season. Not since their playoff battle in 2014 have both teams come in with clear Super Bowl aspirations.
Gone are the days when Steelers linebacker Joey Porter stalked the Ravens’ team bus, looking to fight Ray Lewis. The talk leading to this Ravens-Steelers chapter has been downright respectful. Is the animosity dead?
“Maybe — just because of the hits and the way people have played the game has kind of changed — just due to the rules and all of that,” Ravens defensive back Jimmy Smith said. “But this is still the most physical game we play on both sides of the ball every year, no matter what the records say. I don’t think it’s lost any type of passion towards this game. I think it’s still the No. 1 circled, red-dot game for us.”
Roethlisberger joked that he always hopes the Steelers’ bye week will come after their first game against the Ravens, whom he’s faced 26 times in his career.
“It can be nasty at times,” he said. “But I’ve always felt — as many times as my nose has been broke, we’ve had injuries, it’s been a close game — it’s always been football in its truest form.”
Ravens vs. Steelers reached its zenith from 2008 to 2012, when both teams were perennial contenders and Joe Flacco came into his own to match throws with Roethlisberger. The high stakes are back along with anticipation for Jackson to put his mark on the rivalry. He’s only started one game against Pittsburgh, an October 2019 overtime victory in which he took five sacks and threw three interceptions. He’s never had to outduel Roethlisberger, whom he grew up watching in the Super Bowl.
“It’s the teams going out there battling, but it’s the cities, too,” Jackson said when asked what he’s learned about Ravens vs. Steelers. “I feel like our fans, our city, they get the most out of it — more than we do sometimes.”
Roethlisberger aside, Jackson will face a league-best defensive front that has sacked opposing quarterbacks 26 times in six games. He’s faced more pressure overall this season and has struggled to punish defenses when they attack him in an empty backfield.
“Their defensive line is great,” he said. “Their front four, those guys get off the ball, they get after the quarterback. [They force] a lot of strip-sacks. T.J. [Watt] and Bud [Dupree], they do a great job of getting to the quarterback, harassing the run game.”
The Ravens, bolstered by recent trade acquisition Yannick Ngakoue, will try to cause similar problems for Roethlisberger. “This is a defense that brings guys from everywhere,” the Steelers quarterback told Pittsburgh reporters.
Roethlisberger has released passes in an average of 2.29 seconds this season, nicking opponents to death rather than bombing away. With his big hands, he does not need a perfect grip to zip the ball out, and he’s throwing to receivers he described as “slippery.”
“When you look at the analytics on it, it’s a fact — the ball is coming out quicker than ever. He’s getting the ball out the quickest in the league right now, and he’s doing a great job,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “He does a really good job of finding the open receiver in terms of what coverage you’re playing and what route they’re running. He’s been around a long time. He’s run that offense for many years, and it’s his offense. I call it the ‘Big Ben offense.’ It’s built for him, around him, and I’m sure he has a big hand in building it and organizing it, as well.”
Outside linebacker Matthew Judon said the Ravens will have to counter by getting their hands up at the line of scrimmage — Roethlisberger had two passes deflected into interceptions last week against the Tennessee Titans — and tackling receivers as soon as they catch short passes.
Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell will make his debut in the rivalry, but he faced Roethlisberger in several high-stakes games for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“It’s the best I’ve seen him,” he said when asked to assess the quarterback’s post-surgery form. “He’s always been great, but he’s locked in. He’s getting rid of the ball fast, making great reads, getting the ball to his playmakers [and] still throwing the ball well down the field. You have to love what you see on tape when you watch him. He’s a great player — Hall of Fame worthy.”
Analytic measures do not necessarily agree. Pro Football Focus, for example, grades Roethlisberger as the league’s 20th best quarterback through seven weeks, and he’s 23rd in ESPN’s QBR measure of all-around performance, 13 slots below Jackson.
Former Steelers coach and CBS analyst Bill Cowher noted that the Pittsburgh offense, which features a bevy of young wide receivers, is still congealing around Roethlisberger.
“It’s been, what, six games that he’s been with these receivers?” Cowher said. “So he’s still getting a feel for them. This is probably the best defense he’s going to go against at this point. So it becomes a little bit of a defining game for these guys, a challenge for these guys, kind of just to see where they stand in terms of how they respond to it.”
Smith, for one, won’t be surprised if zombie Roethlisberger makes an appearance Sunday.
“He still can have four or five dudes try to tackle him and he’d shake them off and then go throw the ball 60 yards down field right on target,” the Ravens defensive back said. “So, we know what he’s always been capable of, what he’s doing. He’s just switched it up a little bit, I think, by getting the ball out faster this year — it seems like that at least. But you still see him making those scramble plays on film and still getting the ball down field.”
STEELERS@RAVENS
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 1090 AM, 97.9 FM
Line: Ravens by 4
