I'm pretty sure we're all in agreement that we would rather have the games between the Ravens and Steelers take place later in the season, but nobody will be complaining if the Ravens make good on the oddsmakers opinion that they are three points better than the Steelers.

Of course, that basically accounts for the home-field advantage and there has been enough change in the Ravens roster to make it impossible to predict what might happen today. These games are almost always decided by three points or so, but I'm guessing there will be some air between these teams today. It's the opener and just about anything can happen.

I have to take issue with the notion that this is a must-win. Of course, any head-to-head matchup with your top divisional rival is extremely important, particularly because of the prevalence of tiebreaker situations at the end of the regular season, but there are 15 games to go after this and too much can happen -- to both teams -- to put any special significance on this particular matchup between them. If anything, this might be the one situation where you could make the opposite case.

Of course, if the Ravens win -- my prediction is Ravens, 19-16 -- I'll start printing Super Bowl tickets right after the game.