Bitter Rivals Clash: Ravens -Steelers Rivalry Heats Up in Thrilling ‘Hard Knocks’ Episode

The latest edition of HBO’s Hard Knocks docuseries follows the AFC North during the 2024 regular season. Each week, Baltimore Beatdown will be breaking down the biggest moments and best quotes of every episode.

Harbaugh, Tomlin prepare for yet another battle

John Harbaugh kicked off the episode with an intense gym session, a stark contrast to his somewhat muted portrayal in the Hard Knocks’ debut. He then turned his attention to his team’s even more intense rivalry with the Steelers in a team meeting.

“We all know where we stand, we all know what we’re capable of, we all know what they are, we all know what we’re capable of doing against them,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said as the camera panned to a smiling Lamar Jackson.

Harbaugh recounted several past Ravens-Steelers matchups, including an overtime loss in his first game against Pittsburgh in 2008, Mike Tomlin’s infamous impediment on Jacoby Jones kickoff return on Thanksgiving 2013, and Terrell Suggs’ thigh-master interception in the 2014 Wild Card.

It’s clear that the two longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL have the utmost respect for each other after more than 35 matchups.

“He and they are really good dance partners because we share similar values, the same hyper focus on winning and dominating the North,” Tomlin said. “We’re so familiar with them, they’re so familiar with us.”

“When you see that team take the field, the team that Mike coaches, that he’s coached for all these years, you understand what you’re getting,” Harbaugh said.

“We’ve seen enough of ‘em,” continued Harbaugh. “It’s like playing your brother.” (That’s an especially ironic quote considering Harbaugh has literally played his brother in the NFL on three different occasions.)

Ravens-Steelers is chess, not checkers

Both Todd Monken and Zach Orr emphasized the importance of winning the turnover battle vs. Pittsburgh. That has been a defining feature of the Ravens’ 1-8 record against the Steelers since 2020 and may have been the impetus behind Harbaugh’s straightforward game plan in Week 16.