The Pittsburgh Steelers moved one step closer to clinching an AFC North title with a 23-20 comeback win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13. They can clinch their third division title in four seasons with another prime-time win over an AFC North rival in Week 14.

Pittsburgh has won seven in a row to keep pace with the New England Patriots for the top seed in the AFC at 10-2. The Steelers will attempt to extend that streak without a couple of key players when they host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football.

Linebacker Ryan Shazier is expected to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing spinal stabilization surgery following an injury he suffered in Monday’s win over Cincinnati. Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster is suspended for one game after delivering a blindside hit and then taunting Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict. While Shazier’s absence is a significant loss for the Pittsburgh defence, the offence should be fine without Smith-Schuster versus Baltimore.

No running back-wide receiver tandem has been more dominant than Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown for the Steelers this season. They are the only teammates that both rank in the top-five in scrimmage yards percentage for their team this season. Bell leads the NFL with 1,057 rushing yards, while Brown leads the NFL with 1,296 receiving yards.

It’s no secret that Pittsburgh’s offensive success depends more heavily on that one tandem than any other offence in the league. While Bell has been excellent in recent meetings with Baltimore, the Ravens have done a good job at limiting Browns’ production.

Bell has recorded 323 yards from scrimmage with four touchdowns in his last two games against Baltimore ­– both Steelers wins. Bell has averaged 117.9 scrimmage yards per game in eight contests versus the Ravens in his career.

One key factor to watch is Pittsburgh’s desire to get Bell involved as a receiver out of the backfield. Bell has 30 pass targets over the past three weeks, which is the fourth-most in the NFL regardless of position over that span. Bell has delivered with 26 receptions for 251 yards and a touchdown in those three wins. The Steelers will continue to target Bell on passes out of the backfield this week in order to get him out in space against the Baltimore defence.

Meanwhile, Brown has recorded at least eight receptions, 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in three straight games. However, Brown has topped 100 receiving yards only once in 14 career regular-season games versus the Ravens. He has just three touchdown receptions in those 14 games. Brown was held to a season-low 34 receiving yards in Pittsburgh’s 26-9 win over Baltimore back in Week 4. He also couldn’t hold on to a pass that resulted in a Ben Roethlisberger interception.

Brown is on pace to become the first player in NFL history to register 100 receptions in five consecutive seasons. After struggling in the first meeting between these teams, it will be interesting to see if Brown delivers a more productive outing against the Ravens in Week 14.

On the other side of the football, Baltimore’s defence will have an opportunity to make a statement in its second meeting against the best offence it has faced this season.

The Ravens own the NFL’s third-ranked pass defence. However, it’s important to acknowledge the level of competition they’ve faced. None of Baltimore’s seven victories has come against a quarterback with a winning record. Matthew Stafford, Andy Dalton, Brett Hundley, Tom Savage, DeShone Kizer, Matt Moore and E.J. Manuel are a combined 14-36 this season.

The Steelers registered 381 total yards and scored 26 points in their Week 4 win over the Ravens. Baltimore has forced at least three turnovers in each of their last three wins. In order to prove that it deserves to be considered among the league’s best, the Ravens defence needs to deliver a strong performance versus Pittsburgh in prime time.

Joe Flacco and company are coming off their best offensive performance of the season in a 44-20 win over the Detroit Lions. Baltimore will face a much tougher test this week against the Steelers defence. It doesn’t help that running back Alex Collins continued to deal with migraines while rushing for 75 yards and two touchdowns against Detroit.

Collins is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game and while he should play it’s definitely worth monitoring how effective he is against a top-10 run defence in Pittsburgh.

Flacco attempted 12 passes that travelled at least 10 yards downfield versus Detroit. However, Flacco’s average pass has travelled just 6.43 yards past the line of scrimmage this season, which is the lowest in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts.

The Ravens need to establish the run in order to take some of the pressure off of Flacco and the passing game. Baltimore would benefit tremendously from another strong performance from Collins. With his status for Sunday’s game in question, the Ravens have to be concerned about relying too heavily on their 31st-ranked pass attack to move the ball against the Steelers.

The rivalry between Baltimore and Pittsburgh has been extremely close over the last 15 seasons. The teams have split the 34 games, including playoffs, with just a 12-point scoring margin over that span.

The Steelers are an obvious favourite at home coming with Ben Roethlisberger carrying over a 20-3 career record in home prime-time games heading in to this week.

Pittsburgh will clinch an AFC North title and at least maintain its position tied with New England for the top seed in the AFC with another win on Sunday, which would set up an absolutely massive showdown with the Patriots in Week 15.

The Ravens are currently holding down the final AFC Wild Card spot at 7-5, one game up on the Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders. Both teams have everything to play for when their rivalry resumes on Sunday Night Football.