Steelers vs. Ravens Game Day Guide: How to Watch, Stream, and What's at Stake

The NFL's wild card weekend has finally arrived. Playoff football is here. The slate looks promising as both the AFC and NFC brackets promise to be chock-full of competitive postseason football.

One of the first games up is the No. 3 seed Baltimore Ravens hosting the No. 6 seed Pittsburgh Steelers. It'll be the first night game of the playoffs, with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff time on Saturday, January 11. A battle between two fierce AFC North foes, it promises to be everything past Ravens-Steelers games have been— cold, physical, and more than a little nasty.

Here's everything you need to know about one of the NFL's top wild card billings heading into the game.

What's at stake in Steelers-Ravens?

The Ravens and Steelers will fight for the right to advance to the second round of the 2024 NFL playoffs.

The professional football postseason is one-and-done, so when you ask what's on the line, the answer is everything. The winner will go onto the second round, where their next opponent is determined by the outcome of the other NFL playoff games.

For the Ravens, winning their first playoff game is a must. They put together an excellent season behind MVP-caliber years from Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, going 12-5 in a tough division. The expectations are Super Bowl or bust. Should Baltimore falter this early in the postseason, to an underpowered Steelers team to boot, there would be serious consequences for entrenched head coach John Harbaugh and questions about Jackson's ability to perform in January would persist.

For the Steelers, it's been a better year than expected as coordinator Arthur Smith's offense has helped revive Russell Wilson into a playable quarterback. But things have not gone well of late. Pittsburgh enters the postseason on a four-game losing streak and haven't topped 17 points in one game in over a month. It makes the Steelers bigger underdogs than they already were, and if Mike Tomlin can't pull a rabbit out of his hat he'll have gone eight full seasons without a playoff win in the Steel City. Even balanced with his incredible consistency, that could lead to changes in some capacity.

Notable injuries

The Ravens are likely to be missing one of their primary offensive weapons in Zay Flowers for the wild card game. Flowers left their Week 18 win over the Cleveland Browns with a knee injury and is considered a long shot to play Saturday, but should the Ravens advance a return in the divisional round seems within reason. Additionally, running back Justice Hill was limited in practice this week with a concussion, as was All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton with a knee injury.

On the Pittsburgh side, the key players are largely healthy. All-world pass rusher T.J. Watt appears to have recovered from a scary ankle injury he suffered in December. Cameron Heyward missed practice with an illness but should be good to go barring further setbacks. George Pickens, who dropped several crucial passes in his team's Week 18 defeat, appears to be fully healthy after missing three games with a hamstring issue in the last stretch of the season.

How to watch Steelers vs. Ravens live

The Ravens and Steelers wild card game will be broadcast exclusively on Amazon Prime for the national audience on Saturday night. Viewers must sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription to watch the game.

Locally, it's a different story.

In Baltimore, the game will be broadcast on WMAR (ABC). In Pittsburgh, the game will be broadcast on WPXI (NBC). If you live in either Pittsburgh or Baltimore and do not have cable, both those channels are available via streaming services like YouTube TV, Hulu+ Live TV, Sling TV, and Fubo TV.