Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 1/1/2023

Time: 8:20 p.m. ET

Venue: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD

Where to watch: NBC

DraftKings: Ravens -2.5; Ravens -140, Steelers +120

FanDuel: Ravens -2.5; Ravens -142, Steelers +120 

BetMGM: Ravens -2.5; Ravens -150, Steelers +125

Caesars: Ravens -2.5; Ravens -145, Steelers +122

Steelers: 7-8

Ravens: 10-5 (Clinched playoff berth)

Steelers: won 13-10 vs. Raiders

Ravens: won 17-9 vs. Falcons

The Pittsburgh Steelers are still alive in the playoff chase. How? Not a clue. When you split time with Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett and you’re still fighting to get in. It truly is a remarkable feat that they can still make the playoffs given everything that’s happened. Pittsburgh has won four of its last five and are coming off a 13-10 win against the plummeting Las Vegas Raiders at home. The Steelers’ defense picked off Derek Carr three times while holding Josh Jacobs to just 44 rushing yards.

 

But the star was the rookie quarterback Pickett, who threw for 244 yards and the game-winning touchdown late to George Pickens with 46 seconds remaining. Getting that kind of production from Pickett this late in the season is such a promising scenario for the future. Not to mention it helps that he has a guy like Pickens that he’ll be able to rely on to throw the ball to for years to come.

 

I'm not quite sure if the Steelers have the firepower to actually make the playoffs and get far. It was about the same kind of situation that they experienced last year when they snuck in with Ben Roethlisberger in his final season and they got blown out by Kansas City. But it would be much different with a rookie quarterback on the roster and a legitimate chance to actually put a good defense out there against maybe a decent offense. It's going to be a rather interesting situation of what Pittsburgh can put together and it starts with possibly playing spoiler against their division rivals.

 

I think it's safe to say at this point that the Baltimore Ravens will not have Lamar Jackson until the final game of the regular season in which the division title will be up for grabs. So in that sense, Baltimore playing its home finale with Tyler Huntley at quarterback is probably not the best situation nor is it the best idea that Baltimore has had, but they've been able to handle business against teams that they should be beating, with the exception of Cleveland a couple weeks ago, but Baltimore is at 10-5 and is closing in on a winner take all matchup for the AFC North next week.

 

But of course that means Baltimore needs to win this game in order to even set up the possibility of a division championship match in Cincinnati likely on Sunday Night Football. But the Ravens have won three of their last four and have able to skirt on by without their MVP candidate quarterback in those games, but the offense has taken a major dive. In the last four games, the Ravens have scored 10, 16, three, and 17 in the last four games. If there was any doubt as to should the Ravens pay Lamar Jackson this offseason, there is no question you need to pay the man because when he is healthy therefore you got more than 10 points a game.

 

But the good thing for the Ravens is that the games over the course of this last month have been against teams where they haven't needed to rush Jackson onto the field. Games against Denver, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Atlanta were warranted enough to keep Jackson off the field and allow him to be at full strength period of course of Baltimore finds a way to win this game, you will see Lamar Jackson in Cincinnati next Sunday. But there is a lot of concern I think surrounding Baltimore especially with how things have handled against the spread in the last six. Baltimore has gone 2-4-0 against the spread in the last six games and in three different occasions they were favored.

 

I'm not necessarily one to think that the Ravens are in trouble as it pertains to this kind of a game, but thanks to Pittsburgh’s heroics last week, Baltimore is laying 2.5 in this game period if it were any other time, Baltimore would absolutely be laying a little bit more. The fact that they are at home and the fact that the Ravens defense usually tends to play well at home, there's reason to believe why you should like Baltimore in this game.

 

In these kinds of situations you want to take the home team because when the road team has a rookie quarterback playing a game and you're not really sure what they can bring you in terms of a much needed victory, you tend to go with the home team with the defense that's playing lights out right now. And it wasn't that long ago when Baltimore went into Pittsburgh and played a strong defensive game. If it happens again, next week will be winner take all between Cincinnati and Baltimore. Ravens 16, Steelers 13

Steelers are 75-51 ATS as an underdog since 1992.

Ravens are 7-18 ATS at home after allowing 14 points or less in 2 straight games since 1992.

Steelers are 66-42 ATS as a road underdog of 7 points or less since 1992.

Passing: Kenny Pickett – 2,041 yards, 5 TD, 9 INT

Rushing: Najee Harris – 843 yards, 6 TD

Receiving: Diontae Johnson – 809 yards

Defense: Alex Highsmith – 12 sacks

Passing: Lamar Jackson – 2,242 yards, 17 TD, 7 INT

Rushing: Lamar Jackson – 764 yards, 3 TD

Receiving: Mark Andrews – 747 yards, 5 TD

Defense: Justin Houston – 9 sacks