The Pittsburgh Steelers are out for revenge against the Baltimore Ravens in their AFC North Division clash tomorrow on a day packed with fascinating matchups in the NFL.
The regular season is at the halfway stage and as well as the pounding defenses in Pittsburgh, the Week 9 highlights include the AFC East clash between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets and the league’s only unbeaten team, the Green Bay Packers, at the San Diego Chargers.
However, it is the always-fierce rivalry between the Steelers (6-2) and the Ravens (5-2) that will provide compulsive viewing, with Pittsburgh looking to avenge their 35-7 loss in Baltimore in Week 1.
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“This is one of those games as players that you really want to be part of,” Steelers receiver Hines Ward said.
“It seems like it always ends up being on prime time and for us, they whipped our tails the first time so we now have a chance to get some get-back and hopefully take control of the AFC North,” Ward added.
Both teams come into the game on the back of morale boosting victories, the Ravens overcame a 21-point deficit to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 30-27 in the biggest comeback in franchise history.
Photo: AFP
Pittsburgh boosted their credentials for the playoffs by defeating New England 25-17, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing for 365 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers lead the series by 18 wins to 13 and will hope that Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is as shaky as he was before the comeback against Arizona.
Defending Super Bowl champions Green Bay return from their bye-week looking to extend their franchise-record 16 straight wins.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has guided the Packers to their best start since 1962 and he stands atop the NFL’s quarterback rankings with 20 touchdowns and unmatched completion percentage of 71.5 percent.
The game in San Diego, against a Chargers team who are returning from three games on the road, marks a first NFL start in California for Rodgers, who and was born in Chico, Northern California, played his college football for the University of California and now has his off-season residence in the south of the state.
“It’s always nice to come back to California. It will be nice to play in San Diego, you have got a great field, a nice fast track and it’ll be fun to see some friends and family,” he said.
The Jets (4-3) can make some headway in the AFC East if they can deal with the Bills (5-2), who are tied at the top of the division with the New England Patriots.
New York is also coming back fresh from a bye, but has won their past two outings while the Bills defeated Washington 23-0 in Buffalo’s annual game in Toronto.
“We know we have the opportunity right in front of us, trying to win our division and we’re running into it. We understand that and we will be ready,” Jets head coach Rex Ryan said.
“Our guys are fresh, but mentally we have to be focused and sharp and understand that it will be a physical game,” he said.
The New Orleans Saints, who suffered shock defeat to the St Louis Rams last week, have a tough test against divisional rivals Tampa.
Tampa beat the Saints 26-20 in Florida last month and New Orleans are desperate to improve on their 5-3 start to the season.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set