Patrick Queen excited to face the Ravens for the first time on Sunday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's Ravens week for the Pittsburgh Steelers and linebacker Patrick Queen says he's excited to face his former team for the first time.
The Steelers are set to play their first divisional game of the season when they host their AFC North division rivals from Baltimore.
Pittsburgh enters Week 11 as the lone leaders of the division and are looking to make a statement with a win.
Head coach Mike Tomlin says the reason this is such a big rivalry game is because of the implications it usually has on the postseason, but also attributes it to the amount of players that have flipped sides from one team to another.
That's the case for Patrick Queen, who came to Pittsburgh this offseason as a free agent after spending four seasons playing for the Ravens in Baltimore. Queen says things in Baltimore didn't end on the best of terms.
"I wasn't offered back," Queen said. "I don't know if I said that or not and put that in the public or not. I wasn't wanted back and didn't get an offer back. It's definitely kind of upsetting being there for four years and the bond that you grow with your teammates and stuff. But at the end of the day, like I said, your first few months, you definitely go through those feelings. Now, after playing games, you just go by, wanting to win games with your new teammates and want to win with those guys."
Queen went on to say that he hasn't spoken to head coach John Harbaugh or anyone in the front office sent he left, but said he's excited to face some of his former teammates this Sunday.
"I will have feelings, obviously," Queen said. "Anybody in my position would this week. I'm just gonna take one day at a time and whatever happens, happens."
Jeremiah Moon also came to the Steelers from Baltimore, where he spent the last two years. He says he knows this game well and is looking forward to being on this side of the rivalry now.
"I mean, this is the best rivalry in NFL football," Moon said. "It's always a little bit heightened. It's a division game. I feel like Mike T. is a coach that takes every game like it's the last game. He has great insight and has been doing it for a really long time. I think it's that he puts the game plan together and relays it to us. He just gives capable men information and it's up to us to execute it."
Kickoff on Sunday is set for 1 p.m. at Acrisure Stadium and you can watch the game on KDKA-TV.