OWINGS MILLS, Md. — There are only three games left in the NFL regular season for the Baltimore Ravens and their most important could be this Saturday against the division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers.
Saturday's game will have significant implications on who wins the division.
“We need to be at our very best. They’re an excellent football team. We’re up for the challenge," says John Harbaugh, Ravens head coach.
If you believe in momentum, then odds are the Ravens will have the advantage this Saturday. They’re coming off a 35-14 win over the Giants on Sunday.
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Pittsburgh is coming off a tough loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, losing 27-13.
Both teams are in the midst of 3 games in 10 days.
“It’s a little shorter game planning type of operation that you would have, but we’ve played each other enough where I don’t think that’s a problem for either team," says Harbaugh.
It's a stretch where teams would love to have their full rosters available and for Baltimore, a new face will be missing yet again.
Monday, the team announced that wide receiver Diontae Johnson will be excused from team activities this week.
"There’s a lot of moving parts. There are reasons for doing things that are front office-type reasons. Do I wanna sit here and get into all the different calculations that Eric makes? I really don’t. I want to think about Pittsburgh," says Harbaugh.
Which is exactly what Harbaugh has done. He says he’s watched film on their last matchup as recent as this morning.
The last time they played, the Ravens lost to the Steelers 18-16 in week 11.
“The big picture is here’s our opportunity to win the division. We have to win this game to have an opportunity to win the division," says Harbaugh.
This week's game is Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium at 4:30.
