Ben Roethlisberger Says Steelers Should Not Want to Face Ravens in Playoffs

One of the potential first-round playoff matchups has the Ravens hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers, but former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said his old team should want no part of the Ravens.

“You do not want to go play in Baltimore right now, with two MVP candidates in Lamar [Jackson] and [Derrick] Henry,” Roethlisberger said on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “And that defense in Baltimore is starting to play. They were their Achilles heel earlier in the season; now they’re playing much better football.

“I’m telling you right now, the way Baltimore’s playing, you don’t want that.”

The Steelers (10-6) are currently the fifth seed. If they lose to the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night and the Los Angeles Chargers defeat the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Pittsburgh would drop to the sixth seed and come to Baltimore for a first-round playoff game. The Ravens beat the Steelers, 34-17, two weeks ago at M&T Bank Stadium.

Roethlisberger said the AFC South champion Houston Texans (9-7), who are locked into the No. 4 seed, would be a much more favorable matchup for the Steelers. The Texans are banged up and coming off back-to-back losses, including a 31-2 blowout to the Ravens on Christmas.