When the Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14, turned out to be a pretty whacky AFC North showdown.

Kenny Pickett's concussion forced the Steelers to play Mitch Trubisky early in the game while the Ravens had to go to QB3 Anthony Johnson following Tyler Huntley's injury.

On Sunday Night, better quarterback play is expected. The Steelers will have Pickett in the lineup. The rookie will be fresh off of a successful 7-of-9 two-minute drill to secure last week's win in dramatic fashion.

Ont the other hand, the Ravens have ruled out Lamar Jackson. Huntley has had ups and downs but just posted a 94 passer rating in a 17-attempts performance versus the Atlanta Falcons last weekend.

However, QB play might not matter as much for the Ravens if they're able to do what they did to this defense a few weeks ago. The Steelers gave up 5.1 yards per rush attempt but the numbers get worse when looking just at the Ravens' top two running backs.

• J.K. Dobbins – 15 attempts – 120 yards – 8 YPA.
• Gus Edwards – 13 attempts – 66 yards – 5.1 YPA.

"We were able to stay on the field for extended periods of time, and [it] really just kind of game down to execution," Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman told reporters about their first game against the Steelers. "This game will be different I’m sure, so they’ll make different plans, we’ll make different plans, and whoever plays better for those three hours will win."

But if we know one thing about NFL coaches is that if the run game is working, they'll keep at it.

The good news is that game woke up the Steelers' run defense. Over the last couple of weeks, they look like an entirely different unit.

In Week 15, they allowed 1.6 rush yards per attempt to the Carolina Panthers, who rank second in the league in rush EPA/play. Last weekend, the defense allowed 3.1 yards per rush attempt to Josh Jacobs and the Las Vegas Raiders.

What's changed?

"I think overall over the course of the year our guys have been playing well,
and we had a bad game," Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin told reporters earlier this week. "They are good at what they do."

According to the defensive coordinator, the reason for the improvement in this aspect of the game is more about the Jimmys and Joes than the Xs and Os.

"(The Ravens) beat us at the line of scrimmage. Schematically, we’ll obviously try to do some different things as well. Really, the most important thing, forget the scheme and everything else, we just have to play better."

For the last two weeks, the Steelers have indeed played better.

"I think one of the things we did is that guys did a really good job up front of attacking blocks and getting off blocks and not letting the running back get started," said the Steelers coach about last weekend's success versus the Raiders.

The Ravens are a more complicated match-up as their offense is based on running the football in a million different ways with offensive linemen that can beat you with zone and gap schemes unlike any other in the NFL.

Regardless of the storylines around Pickett and Huntley, stopping the Ravens' rushing attack will be the key to this one.

Featured image via Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports