Travis Thomas: Key Factor - Ravens Vs. Steelers Wildcard Weekend
Here we go again in the AFC Playoffs, Ravens vs Steelers, winner takes all, and losers take your ball and go home. Over the years we have watched these two rivals compete at the highest level against each other and seemingly all under the "we don't like each other" moniker. This rivalry represented a brand of football we rarely see these days. Two defenses that would literally try and knock each others block off on every single snap. Two capable but limited offenses that were just looking to avoid the big mistake and let the defense bring it home. Now of course the rivalry still exists but in the "New NFL", much like its greatest players, this rivalry has evolved. I believe this match up will come down to the two Super Bowl Winning Quarterbacks: Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger.
These teams split their two regular season games this year, in the Ravens win Flacco outplayed Big Ben throwing for two TD's and a passer rating over one hundred. The second game belonged to Roethlisberger as he tossed six touchdowns in a blowout win. Saturday night's game will be the first postseason match up of these two in four years. Unfortunately for the Ravens they have yet to topple the hated Steelers in the postseason. Could this be the season? I would answer that question with a question: Will the real Joe Flacco please stand up? Both of these teams finished a mediocre 8-8 last season and failed to make the playoffs. However both signal callers have proved how dangerous they are once in the postseason tournament, no matter how ugly the road is to get there. Big Ben is 8-4 overall against Flacco head to head, but we all remember the last time Mr. Flacco was in the postseason. Joe had a mediocre at best regular season that year and all the talk was how the defense carried that team (as usual). But once the Ravens were in the playoffs it was a different story as Joe raised his level of play to heights we had never seen him reach. Joe Flacco became only the second Quarterback in history to toss 11 touchdowns and no interceptions during a postseason run. The only other QB to accomplish that level of success was Joe Montana.
This regular season has been Flacco's best of his career and if his fourth quarter against the Browns is any indication he's coming into this game hot. Ben Roethlisberger has been hot all season long and will be asked to do even more with the health of his star running back Le'Veon Bell in major question. I never thought I would see this hard hitting rivalry come down to a Quarterback duel, but here it is. We will all remember the hard hits, Rashard Mendenhall's hard lesson learned against Ray Lewis, T-Sizzle's trash talk and T-shirts, The Hines Ward Hate Club (I'm not only a client, I'm the President) and the list goes on and on. But now we are officially living the Big Ben vs. Cool Joe year in this rivalry. Sit back and enjoy.