Ravens Steelers | Baltimore Ravens

Ravens Steelers - Call it act three, the rubber game, part three, whatever. As the opening kickoff of the Baltimore Ravens at the Pittsburgh Steelers gets closer, it's obvious that this is much more than just an NFL Divisional Playoff game. At a local pub yesterday, I encountered a decked out, trash-talking Steelers fan in Ravens territory.

Looking at the two regular season games that the teams split, one could say there was one play in each game that could have turn the win into a loss and vice versa. In most Ravens fans' minds, had the Ravens not turned the ball over deep in their own territory late in the game here in Baltimore, the Ravens would have swept the season series and today's game would be about to start in Baltimore, not Pittsburgh.

As much as they want to say Ben played and won in the second game, we can counter with the fact that Todd Heap pulled his hamstring on the first play of the game and never returned, taking a huge chunk of our offense and game plan out of the game.

Only the Steelers' 23-14 2008 AFC Championship Game victory broke that trend and that was only because the Ravens were on their way to perhaps what might have been a game-winning field goal before Steelers safety Troy Polamalu put an end to that with a game-clinching interception for a TD.

Some NFL rivalries are manufactured. The survivor of Saturday's AFC divisional game meets the winner of Sunday's Jets-Patriots game in the AFC championship game on Jan. 23.