The Ravens/Steelers rivalry is arguably the best in sports and is definitely the best in football.  It has produced some great games and with that comes great memories and moments.  Of the 35 meetings between these two franchises, Pittsburgh owns the all time series by a 21-14 margin.  This has been an extremely close rivalry in the last few years especially.  Five of the last six regular season meetings between these two teams have been decided by three points.  Sunday night should be another memorable contest even if the Ravens don’t have to face Ben Roethlisberger.

Here are my most memorable games from the rivalry:

November 4^th, 2001 – The Ravens shut out the Steelers in the second half and held running back Jerome Bettis to under 100 yards for the 6^th straight time up to that point.  Matt Stover was able to connect on a go-ahead field goal in swirling winds while Steelers kicker, Kris Brown, miss a game tying field goal to give the Ravens the victory and hand the Steelers their first lost at Heinz Field.  How fitting is was against the Ravens, right?

December 28^th, 2003 – Jamal Lewis came into this game (the final game of the season) 148 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record.  It came down to the last drive but Lewis was not able to surpass Dickerson and finished just 39 yards shy of the record.  The Ravens kicked a game winning field to finish the season 10-6 and the Steelers finished 6-10.  Steelers linebacker Joey Porter said after the game “we wasn’t going to let him get the overall record. He got some yards, but he didn’t get the record.” Just like a Steeler not to use proper English.

November 29^th, 2009 – Pittsburgh came into the game with a one game lead over the Ravens in the division.  In a hard hitting contest it was only fitting that it would take overtime to settle it.  The Steelers received the ball to start but it didn’t take long for then rookie Paul Kruger to intercept Dennis Dixon and set up the Ravens for a game winning by Billy Cundiff.  Joe Flacco said after the game “It feels good. It’s what we needed. Against these guys, it’s even bigger.

October 3^rd, 2010 – Pittsburgh took the lead 14-10 midway through the fourth quarter and stood the Ravens up on the goal line in the final minutes after Joe Flacco threw an incomplete pass on fourth down.  All seemed lost until the defense was able to force the Steelers to punt and a crucial holding penalty gave Baltimore the ball on Pittsburgh’s 40 yard line.  Flacco then connected with T.J. Houshmandzadeh on an 18 yard strike to put the Ravens up for good with the help of a Ray Lewis interception to seal the deal.

November 6^th, 2011 – Another close game came down to the wire.  Torrey Smith dropped a wide open pass in the endzone only to come back and make an even better catch to give the Ravens the lead with mere seconds remaining.  This was also the game Terrell Suggs had a leaping interception of Ben Roethlisberger stealing points off the board from Pittsburgh.