The Rubber Match Is Set For Saturday
Pittsburgh (KDKA/AP) — The rubber match is set for 4:30PM Saturday at Heinz Field.
The Baltimore Ravens beat the AFC West Champions Kansas City Chiefs 30-7 in Sunday's Wild Card game. Both the Steelers and the Ravens finished tied at the top of the AFC North with a 12-4 record, but the Steelers held the tie breaker -- giving them the first round bye in the playoffs.
In their first match-up this season, the Ravens beat the Steelers 17-14 at Heinz Field.
With Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sitting out due to his four week suspension, Backup Charlie Batch threw 141 yards and the Steelers ran for only 85 yards against Ray Lewis and the Ravens defense.
In their second match-up in Week 13 the Steelers returned the favor with a 13-10 win at M&T Bank Stadium. In that game Roethlisberger threw for 253 yards and the offense ran for 54 yards.
In the Week 13 game, the Ravens were in control until safety Troy Polamalu forced a Joe Flacco fumble that setup the Steelers to score the go-ahead touchdown.
Flacco says he's looking forward to playing the Steelers again.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," Flacco said. "This is going to be the second time in my career that we've played them three times in a season. And those games are always a lot of fun. We're going to go up there and give it our best."
The last time the Steelers and the Ravens met in the playoffs was back in 2009 for the AFC Championship game at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 23-14 to advance to the Super Bowl against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Steelers were holding onto a two-point lead in the fourth quarter when Polamalu intercepted Flacco and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. The touchdown secured the win for the Steelers, who went on to win their sixth Super Bowl Championship over Arizona 27-23.
