{"id":641767,"date":"2025-12-31T01:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/641767\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T01:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:31:18","slug":"former-nfl-ol-calls-steelers-ravens-game-the-toilet-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/641767\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL OL Calls Steelers-Ravens Game ‘The Toilet Bowl’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AFC North has often been regarded as one of the best divisions in the NFL. Many expected its constituent teams to be competitive this season. However, that has not been the case. Only one team from that division will make the playoffs. It all comes down to Week 18 between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. While that\u2019s historically been one of the league\u2019s best rivalries,<\/a> former NFL offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles doesn\u2019t have a high opinion of that matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk about what\u2019s gonna happen here in Week 18 with the Toilet Bowl,\u201d Sirles said recently on his OLine Committee podcast.<\/a> \u201cThe Toilet Bowl division winners that are gonna get flexed to Sunday Night Football. All they\u2019re getting is congratulations, you get one more check, and you get one more extra week of practice, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, or Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat job, everyone, for getting one week of participation trophy going in because neither one of those teams looks competent enough to win a playoff game right now. It\u2019s the best of the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sirles isn\u2019t wrong to be down on the AFC North matchup. Neither the Steelers nor the Ravens has played particularly inspiring football this season. The Ravens are currently 8-8, while the Steelers are 9-7. They\u2019ve both been mediocre.<\/p>\n

Both teams could also be missing some crucial pieces in Week 18. Lamar Jackson hasn\u2019t looked like himself for most of the year due to injuries, and he missed Week 17 with a back issue. There\u2019s no guarantee that he\u2019ll<\/a> suit up this week. DK Metcalf is still suspended, and T.J. Watt could continue to miss time with his lung issue.<\/p>\n

However, this game still has some interesting storylines. For example, this could be Aaron Rodgers\u2019 final NFL game. He considered retiring after last year. If the Steelers lose, his legendary career could be over.<\/p>\n

Whichever team wins the AFC North won\u2019t face a perfect team in the first round of the playoffs. No team in the AFC looks unbeatable. If the Steelers get into the postseason, they\u2019ll get Metcalf back, and Watt could also return. Those two players would provide a huge boost.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still the Ravens and Steelers, too. Those two teams often bring out the best in each other. They\u2019ve put on some classic battles in the past. Even if some major players aren\u2019t present, it could still be an intense game.<\/a> Everything is on the line.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFC North has often been regarded as one of the best divisions in the NFL. Many expected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,72751,6,57,169,80679],"class_list":{"0":"post-641767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jeremiah-sirles","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-ravens","16":"tag-the-oline-committee"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115811600976737198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}