Ahead of their biggest meeting in years, the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers have taken different approaches to the publicity surrounding Sunday’s game.

The Steelers have embraced the spotlight — or at least haven’t avoided it. Coach Mike Tomlin seemed to hide a smile as he talked about former Pittsburgh and new Ravens wide receiver Diontae Johnson’s limited impact. Former Ravens inside linebacker Patrick Queen bemoaned the end of his tenure in Baltimore. Former Ravens safety DeShon Elliott took a clear shot at the Ravens’ struggling pass defense and a backhanded jab at safety Marcus Williams — on cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s podcast, of all places.

The Ravens? They’ve kept their emotions in check and their misgivings private. Coach John Harbaugh had a surprisingly bland Wednesday news conference. (How do the Ravens match up against Pittsburgh’s talented defensive front? “We hope to be able to block them.”) Quarterback Lamar Jackson said he “hates” the Steelers, but, of course, he hates every team he plays. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman called the matchup “just another game.” Even Johnson said it would be good to “see the good people that I made relationships with” in Pittsburgh.

“I think that every week is different, every week is tough,” tight end Mark Andrews said Wednesday. “Obviously, being in this division, we all know each other pretty well, but for us, it’s just about doing our job, which we will, and hopefully have a great game.”

The Ravens could use a rivalry reset. Their recent regular-season success hasn’t translated to wins over their divisional nemesis, with Pittsburgh (7-2) taking three straight meetings and seven of the past eight. Another victory Sunday at Acrisure Stadium would extend the Steelers’ lead over the Ravens (7-3) in the AFC North to 1.5 games. Here’s what to watch in the teams’ Week 11 matchup.

1. The last time Jackson started against Pittsburgh, the Ravens scored just one touchdown. But of all the culprits in that 17-10 road loss in October 2023, Jackson did not rank especially high. He actually graded out as Pro Football Focus’ top quarterback that week, a rare distinction after a defeat.

The Ravens were “supposed” to beat the Steelers last year, Jackson lamented Wednesday. They entered the fourth quarter with a 10-3 lead. “But things just didn’t go our way,” Jackson said. “The football gods weren’t on our side.”

More specifically, they haven’t been on Jackson’s side. Injuries and illness have sidelined Jackson for four meetings against Pittsburgh, and the Ravens have rested him for two regular-season finales. In his four starts against the Steelers, Jackson is 1-3.

Every one of them has been a slog. Jackson has completed just 59.1% of his passes for four touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s averaged just 145 passing yards and 43.7 rushing yards per game. His negative-play rate (19.8%) against Pittsburgh is almost four points higher than it is against any other opponent, according to TruMedia.

Jackson hasn’t been great, but neither has his supporting cast. Jackson’s sack rate against the Steelers is 13.2%, his highest against any opponent. His under-pressure rate is 41.1%, his third highest against any opponent. And his receivers’ drop rate is 8.9%, almost double his career average (5.1%). Seven of those drops came in Pittsburgh last year, the Ravens’ most in a single game over the past decade.

With the Ravens’ improved receiving corps, the Steelers’ only clear matchup advantage on defense is up front. Pittsburgh is seventh in ESPN’s pass rush win rate, led by star outside linebacker T.J. Watt (6.5 sacks) and defensive lineman Cameron Heyward (five sacks). Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith (three sacks) will miss Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, but his backup, Nick Herbig, has 2.5 sacks in five games.

“It starts with the front guys, the pass rush, stopping the run, and then they play downhill from there, but you have to handle those guys trying to make the play get over with quick,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “They’re a quick-outcome type of a defense; that’s what they strive for, and their guys understand it, and they do a good job.”

2. Former Ravens inside linebacker Patrick Queen has one of the NFL’s toughest assignments this weekend: Contain Jackson, one of the league’s most elusive runners, and running back Derrick Henry, one of its most powerful runners.

“It’s just a physical game,” Queen, Pittsburgh’s only three-down inside linebacker, told local reporters Wednesday. “Everybody do their job, everybody fit their gap, and we’ll be fine.”

Queen and the Steelers seem well suited to limiting Jackson’s damage on the ground. Opposing quarterbacks have rushed just 18 times for 61 yards against Pittsburgh this season — 15 yards coming on scrambles, another 46 on designed runs. (Jackson, meanwhile, had 122 rushing yards in just the Ravens’ season opener.)

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, one of the league’s top dual threats, was held to three carries for 5 yards in the Steelers’ 28-27 win Sunday, by far the rookie’s worst rushing performance this season.

“I think it’s [about] being disciplined,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said Thursday of Pittsburgh’s run defense. “We have our work cut out for us. They do a great job. Defensively, they do a great job understanding how we try to attack people, so we’ve just got to do it better than they do it.”

Henry could be the bigger issue for Queen. The All-Pro has missed nine tackles in run defense this season, according to Pro Football Focus, tied for the fifth most of any defender. Henry has forced an NFL-best 59 missed tackles on rush attempts, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

3. Steelers wide receiver George Pickens might not be as talented as Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase, but it’s close. And that’s a problem for the Ravens.

No defense has been worse at defending opponents’ No. 1 wide receivers this season, according to FTN. The Ravens are allowing 107.9 yards per game to WR1s, 40 more yards per game than they gave up last season. Chase is largely responsible for that carnage (457 combined yards), but the Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice had 103 yards in the season opener, former Las Vegas Raider Davante Adams went for 110 yards in Week 2, and the Denver Broncos’ Courtland Sutton finished with 122 yards in Week 9.

Pickens had a modest start to this season, averaging just 60.5 receiving yards per game over his six games with quarterback Justin Fields, but he’s surged since Russell Wilson took over as starter. Pickens has 276 receiving yards (92 per game) and two touchdowns since Week 7, and he’s fourth in the NFL in yards per route run in that span (3.21), according to TruMedia.

A regular diet of deep shots has kept Pickens busy. Wilson has targeted him six times on passes at least 20 yards downfield, and Pickens has caught four for 148 yards. The Ravens have allowed an NFL-worst 23 completions in that range this season.

“Russ has always been a threat with his deep-ball throwing, so now you add those two guys together — well, shoot, it’s explosive, it’s dynamite,” Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Thursday. “And regardless of the coverage, regardless of where you’re at — you can be on them — the ball is going to go up to [Pickens] at some point in time, and we’re going to have to make those plays if we want to come out with a win on Sunday.”

4. The Ravens have a far better defense when Kyle Hamilton is on the field. But if the All-Pro safety’s ankle injury is an issue Sunday — he was limited in his return to practice Thursday — Wilson is not the ideal candidate to take advantage of a weakened defensive spine.

In his three starts, just four of Wilson’s 85 attempts have been aimed between the numbers and thrown at least 10 yards downfield. Jackson, by comparison, has 15 such intermediate-range passes over his past three starts.

The Steelers’ outside-inclined passing attack could work to the Ravens’ advantage. Their defense has given up an NFL-worst 1,708 passing yards between the numbers, and opposing quarterbacks are completing 74.7% of those passes for 9.4 yards per attempt. Harbaugh on Monday called the Ravens’ middle-of-the-field defense a “problem for us.”

The Bengals owned that zone in last week’s 35-34 road loss, finishing with 308 passing yards between the numbers on a mix of check-downs, catch-and-run splash plays and downfield shots.

“Each and every guy has to play to their standard, and if you don’t do that, it can make everybody look bad in the entire defense,” inside linebacker Roquan Smith, who along with Williams has struggled in coverage this season, said Thursday. “It’s not a bunch of bad players. It’s certain plays here and there, and when you do that, things don’t go our way. ... [We] just can’t allow a team to do some of the things that were done this past week. It definitely was embarrassing, in a sense, but we’re moved on from that and focused on Pittsburgh now. We just have to get better.”

5. After their win over Cincinnati, the Ravens are virtual locks to make the playoffs. With a win over Pittsburgh, they’d be heavy favorites to win their second straight division title, too.

According to The New York Times’ playoff odds, the Ravens enter Week 11 with about a 68% chance of claiming the AFC North. A loss would knock those odds down to 43%. A win, however, would boost them to 85%.

That probability reflects not only the teams’ analytical profile and record but also their second-half slate. Including Sunday’s game, the Ravens have the NFL’s 17th-hardest remaining schedule, according to FTN, with tough tests against the 6-3 Los Angeles Chargers (Week 12) and 7-2 Philadelphia Eagles (Week 13) and more manageable games against the 2-8 New York Giants (Week 15) and 2-7 Cleveland Browns (Week 18).

The Steelers’ schedule, ranked the NFL’s seventh most difficult, looks bumpier. Pittsburgh has road games against the 4-6 Bengals (Week 13), Eagles (Week 15) and Ravens (Week 16) and ends the season with home games against the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs (Week 17) and Cincinnati (Week 18).