The Pittsburgh Steelers’ dominance of the Baltimore Ravens rivalry came to an abrupt and untimely end late last season. After winning nine out of 10, they are on a crippling two-game losing streak. That includes a 28-14 loss in the Wild Card Round in January, in which they gave up 299 rushing yards.
For years, the Ravens had a Pittsburgh problem; now the Steelers have a Baltimore problem. DC Teryl Austin wants to ensure that it’s a one-year issue and does not carry over into this season. To that end, he is looking to make some changes to eliminate the miscues of the past.
“We’re going to try to do some different things to make sure we have the bodies in the right place to help ourselves because we didn’t like how we finished last year,” Austin said of the Steelers’ final two games against the Ravens, via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In particular, Austin emphasized personnel, specifically big personnel, which they addressed during the 2025 NFL Draft. In the first round, the Steelers drafted DL Derrick Harmon, then in the fifth round, Yahya Black. Harmon is already looking forward to Steelers-Ravens games and taking on the challenge of RB Derrick Henry.
In the first game against the Ravens, the Steelers held Derrick Henry to 65 yards on 13 carries. Though he did score a touchdown, he didn’t dictate the game, and the Steelers won, 18-16. That was as far as their success carried them, though. He rushed for 162 yards the next time around, and then 186. The Ravens won both games.
“We had a Baltimore [Ravens] problem last year,” the Steelers’ defensive coordinator admitted. “There’s no way of getting around it. They ran the ball down our throats, and we have to fix that if we want to contend in our division.”
While neither the Steelers nor Ravens have had great postseason success in a decade, Baltimore has fared better. The Steelers have lost to both the Ravens and the Browns. Pittsburgh last reached the conference finals in 2016, Baltimore in 2023. Last year, they came within a dropped two-point conversion of tying the Bills in the Divisional Round to continue play.
But the Steelers aren’t worried about what the Ravens are doing when they’re not playing them. All they have to worry about is what they let Baltimore do to them. Lately, that hasn’t been pretty, and “You hate it,” Austin admitted.
“You don’t ever want your rival to kick your ass, but it makes us better. Sometimes the other side will have an upper hand. We had been ahead in that category. They did some catching up”.
The Steelers still lead the all-time series 36-27, so the Ravens still have some catching up to do. But every game they catch up on is a game that puts the present Steelers behind.
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