NFL Predictions Week 9: Baltimore Ravens Will Dominate Pittsburgh Steelers

The Baltimore Ravens destroyed the Pittsburgh Steelers to start the 2011 season and they will crush them once again in Week 9.

This game takes place during primetime (8:20 p.m. ET on NBC) and the whole nation will get to see Baltimore once again pummel the Steelers, this time on the road.

These two teams hate each other with an absolute passion and usually these games get physical and are played very close.

That wasn’t the case when the Steelers came into Baltimore for the first game of the year and lost 35-7, their biggest margin of defeat since the rivalry began in 1996.

It now looks like many have forgot about that opening week and are pegging the Steelers as the favorite, with Vegas having the black and yellow team at 3.5-point favorites as of writing this.

By winning six of their last seven and beating up on the perennial-contending and seemingly always good New England Patriots last week, the Steelers re-entered the public mind as a powerhouse.

Baltimore is also fading from respectability after blowing a Monday Night Football game to the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars and mounting a ridiculous comeback to get past the Arizona Cardinals.

It all will not matter tonight.

Baltimore is simply the better team and has the formula to beat Pittsburgh.

They are healthy and their defense is just as nasty as they were in the opening week, where they forced seven turnovers and simply dominated on that side of the ball.

Baltimore was also able to get a good game from their star at RB, Ray Rice, who traditionally has solid outings against Pittsburgh. If they can dominate the run game and the defense battle again, as they should, Baltimore wins this easy.

It should be a good game but I just see the Ravens sweeping the rivalry in 2010 and winning by at least a touchdown.