"I told the Ravens I will not miss playing them": Ben Roethlisberger is relieved he longer has to face the demons of his biggest career rivals

Ben Roethlisberger career against the Baltimore Ravens may have come to an end. And he will not miss playing them.

Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers needed a lot of help from around the league, to make the playoffs after a topsy turvy season. And somehow miraculously, made the playoffs.

The Steelers needed to defeat division rival Baltimore Ravens, needed the Indianapolis Colts to lose to the 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars and then hope the Chargers-Raiders to not end in a tie. And all of that happened.

Playoff Time 😤@FedEx | @OurFordStore | #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/uPHKmyDFdr

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 12, 2022

Ben Roethlisberger joked about playing the Ravens after a crazy overtime thriller

Roethlisberger had to have more confidence than ever that he was not yet done and he had led Pittsburgh to a 16-13 comeback win in overtime against the Ravens to end the regular season.

The 8-7-1 Steelers came back from down 10-6 to take a 13-10 lead with 2:54 left in regulation. And then in overtime, Roethlisberger marched Pittsburgh 65 yards to set up Chris Boswell for a game-winning 36-yard field goal.

In possibly his final regular season game, Big Ben…

Led an overtime game-winning drive ✔️
Converted a 4th and 8 in OT ✔️
Kept the @steelers playoff hopes alive ✔️

Not done yet. #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/QKdlM2on7h

— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2022

In classic Steelers-Ravens fashion, Big Ben’s regular-season career came to a close with an even closer game. With this result, the future HOFer quarterback now has an 18-11 record against the Ravens.

“Last week was so much more emotional, it took it all out and it just made me feel like, ‘Let’s go play,” Roethlisberger said after Sunday’s win. “At no point during this game did I think, ‘Man, this is it. It’s almost over.’ It just didn’t feel like that and I’m glad I didn’t have those feelings.”

“I told a lot of those guys I’m not going to miss playing them,” Roethlisberger said of the Ravens. “Football is already a very violent game. But you know playing these guys has always been one where you wake up on Monday morning, whatever the next day is and you’re hurt. And it’s never dirty. It’s just good, old-fashioned football.”