The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have one of the NFL’s greatest rivalries. Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh were two huge parts of those battles, but now they’ve both moved on to the next chapter of their lives. That might make some wonder if the rivalry will have the same intensity. New Ravens head coach Jesse Minter made it clear that he’s not in Baltimore to make friends with the other AFC North teams.

“I don’t want to lose to anybody in our division,” Minter said Tuesday on NFL on CBS’ YouTube channel. “Yeah, I hate them, in a sense like, I respect the rivalry. When I was here prior, Mike Tomlin, who’s a mentor of mine, there’s a high, high level of respect for the Steelers, their organization, how they operate, Bengals, their organization, how they operate, Cleveland, their organization, how they operate.

“At the same time, those are the teams you need to beat to be successful. There’s just a higher level of priority on those teams. When you operate, when you’re building your systems, it’s to be able to win those games.”

While Minter was the Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive coordinator before becoming the Ravens’ head coach, this isn’t his first stint in Baltimore. He previously coached for them from 2017-2020, so he’s very familiar with all of the AFC North rivalries.

The Ravens went 3-5 against the Steelers during Minter’s time as an assistant with them, so he’ll be looking to improve upon that record. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to do it against Tomlin, with whom he’s got a long history.

Minter’s father, Rick Minter, was the head coach at the University of Cincinnati from 1994-2003. Tomlin was a coach on his staff there from 1999-2000, and there, he formed a relationship with the younger Minter. The two have remained close over the years, as Minter explained before the Steelers played the Chargers last year.

It would’ve been a full-circle moment for Tomlin and Minter to face off as AFC North rivals. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, Minter will battle Mike McCarthy, who should be very familiar with the AFC North rivalries as a Pittsburgh native.

It’s a new age for the Steelers and Ravens, but it sounds like losing Tomlin and Harbaugh shouldn’t diminish their rivalry at all. The two teams played in a classic to end the regular season last year, with Pittsburgh coming out on top. While Minter wasn’t with the team for that, the players will still be looking to avenge that loss.