Lamarr Woodley

As I mentioned Thursday, a few national analysts have recently voiced their opinions on Joe Flacco. CBS broadcaster Phil Simms believes Flacco can lead the Ravens to the Super Bowl . ESPN’s Matt Williamson said that Flacco is on track . And NFL Network’s Joe Theismann thinks Flacco will break out this season . But consider Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley unimpressed. Appearing on NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access” on Thursday, Woodley said the Ravens quarterback will never win a Super Bowl “in this lifetime.” “No, not at all because they have to go through one team -- that's the Pittsburgh Steelers in that AFC championship,” Woodley said.

Each day this week leading up to Thursday's NFL draft, we will highlight one prospect whom the Ravens could draft with the 29th overall pick. Today's player is Alabama linebacker/defensive end Courtney Upshaw, who had 16.5 sacks for the Crimson Tide the past two seasons, including 9.5 as they won the 2011 NCAA title. Background: Upshaw was one of the top defensive end prospects of the country coming out of high school, and he lived up to the expectations in his home state.

1 Santonio Holmes hurts the Ravens again. The wide receiver has scored a touchdown in six straight games against the Ravens, reaching the end zone a total of seven times. 2 The Ravens' pass protection struggles in Blitz-burgh. Tackles Michael Oher, Oniel Cousins and possibly Jared Gaither have to protect quarterback Joe Flacco from James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley. 3 The Steelers go deep on the Ravens' secondary. In seven wins this season, Roethlisberger has completed 34 passes of 20 yards or more.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has been blitzed with criticism in the past year, starting with NFL linebackers LaMarr Woodley and Dhani Jones during the lockout and eventually, after a 12-4 season and another win in the playoffs, he was criticized by his teammate, safety Ed Reed, sparking a minor media firestorm this week. Things have gotten so ridiculous that even a neighbor has called out Flacco for hopping aboard a skateboard. While making an appearance on “NFL Total Access,” Flacco revealed that during the team's playoff bye week, he decided to see if he could stand upright on a skateboard without falling.

Each day this week leading up to Thursday's NFL draft, we will highlight one prospect whom the Ravens could draft with the 29th overall pick. Today's player is Alabama linebacker/defensive end Courtney Upshaw, who had 16.5 sacks for the Crimson Tide the past two seasons, including 9.5 as they won the 2011 NCAA title. Background: Upshaw was one of the top defensive end prospects of the country coming out of high school, and he lived up to the expectations in his home state.

Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley ruffled the feathers of Ravens fans last week when he told NFL Network that Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco would never win a Super Bowl “in his lifetime.” But Woodley’s veteran teammate Hines Ward refused to provide more bulletin board fodder when talking about Woodley’s claim. Appearing on NFL Network on Wednesday , Ward said the Ravens have a “great team” and they “can win with Flacco.” Ward wasn’t “going to put any bulletin board material out there,” but he said he understood where Woodley was coming from because you have to go into this heated rivalry expecting to beat the Ravens.

No. Name Pos. 2 Dennis Dixon QB 3 Jeff Reed PK 7 Ben Roethlisberger QB 9 Daniel Sepulveda P 10 Santonio Holmes WR 11 Stefan Logan KR 16 Charlie Batch QB 17 Mike Wallace WR 19 Tyler Grisham WR ...

The Steelers have been negotiating with the agent for safety Troy Polamalu over the past several days, an 11th-hour attempt to sign the NFL defensive player of the year before the season begins Sunday. Polamalu is entering the final season of his contract, and their previous discussions this summer with agent Marvin Demoff went nowhere and stalled. After the Steelers signed linebacker Lawrence Timmons to a six-year, $50 million contract two weeks ago, they decided they could do no more extensions until after the season.

The Ravens listed defensive tackle Haloti Ngata as probable for Sunday night's showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two-time Pro Bowl selection was limited in practice Friday after sitting out sessions on Wednesday and Thursday with what the team described as a thigh injury. Center Matt Birk (neck) and cornerback Danny Gorrer (thigh) joined Ngata among the probables. Both were upgraded to full participation Friday after being limited Wednesday and Thursday. Left guard Ben Grubbs (strained ligaments in right toe)

The Ravens and Steelers won't be tiptoeing into the water at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon. They are taking the plunge into the season with one of the most critical games on the 2011 slate for each squad. That's not to say the season opener is a make-or-break game for either team, though there is more pressure on the Ravens to win and put the pressure back on the Steelers to defend their home turf later in the season. So what do the Ravens need to do to beat Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers on Sunday?

The saying “silence is golden” usually doesn't apply to Terrell Suggs, whose colorful personality makes him one of the most sought-after media requests in the locker room. But after compiling six sacks in his first seven games, the Ravens outside linebacker had gone three contests without a sack. That all changed on Thanksgiving night when he tied a career best by sacking quarterback Alex Smith three times in the Ravens' 16-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Suggs moved into a three-way tie for seventh in the NFL with New Enbgland Patriots defensive end Andre Carter and Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley with nine sacks this season.

Because doing a full, 32-team list of power rankings is too much work for a Monday afternoon, I will rank the top 11 teams in the NFL after each exciting football Sunday (that's where the "first and 10" comes in). Here's the balance of power heading into Monday night's Week 11 finale between the Patriots and Chiefs: 1. Packers: Green Bay is so good, they are toying with opponents. DT B.J. Raji had a one-yard TD on Sunday. 2. 49ers: If Ray Lewis is out Thanksgiving night, too, Frank Gore and the 49ers might run all over the Ravens.

— The difference between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Ravens is no longer in the quarterback. When the game was on the line Sunday night, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco outlasted Pittsburgh quarterback and rival Ben Roethlisberger. In the past, when Roethlisberger had led the Steelers on a potential game winning drive late in the fourth period, the Ravens had no answer. But Sunday night, Flacco brought the Ravens back with a 13 play, 92 yard drive in the last 2 minutes and 16 seconds.

Left guard Ben Grubbs, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and center Matt Birk are active for the Ravens' clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night at Heinz Field. Grubbs has not played since the season opener against the Steelers on Sept. 11 after straining ligaments in a toe on his right foot. He was limited in all three practices this past week and had been listed as questionable. If Grubbs is active, it's anticipated that he will start at left guard for Andre Gurode, who had made five consecutive starts at that position.

The Ravens and the Steelers renew the hardest-hitting rivalry in the NFL on Sunday night. The winner of this game -- with all apologies to the surprising Cincinnati Bengals -- will be in the driver's seat in the AFC North. If you have lived vicariously through the Ravens over the past decade and a half, you know what it's like to be inside this rivalry. But if you're a newbie, Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote an interesting piece about it Sunday . As Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said, Ravens-Steelers is second to only the Super Bowl.

The Ravens listed defensive tackle Haloti Ngata as probable for Sunday night's showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two-time Pro Bowl selection was limited in practice Friday after sitting out sessions on Wednesday and Thursday with what the team described as a thigh injury. Center Matt Birk (neck) and cornerback Danny Gorrer (thigh) joined Ngata among the probables. Both were upgraded to full participation Friday after being limited Wednesday and Thursday. Left guard Ben Grubbs (strained ligaments in right toe)

The saying “silence is golden” usually doesn't apply to Terrell Suggs, whose colorful personality makes him one of the most sought-after media requests in the locker room. But after compiling six sacks in his first seven games, the Ravens outside linebacker had gone three contests without a sack. That all changed on Thanksgiving night when he tied a career best by sacking quarterback Alex Smith three times in the Ravens' 16-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Suggs moved into a three-way tie for seventh in the NFL with New Enbgland Patriots defensive end Andre Carter and Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley with nine sacks this season.

• Mike Florio and Gregg Rosenthal of NBC Sports' ProFootballTalk are split on which team will win between the Ravens and Steelers . Florio's take: The Steelers carry a four-game winning streak into a game for which they may not have four healthy linebackers. But it doesn't matter. Motivated by a 35-7 Week One thumping that seems so distant it may as well have been Week One of the 2004 season, the Steelers will find a way to hold serve at home. They might even turn the tables with a blowout of Baltimore, but I'll stick with a close game in the hopes that NBC will be able to carry a huge rating for all three hours on Sunday night.

News item: Joe Flacco and the Ravens' inconsistent offense could be facing a depleted Pittsburgh linebacking corps when they face the Steelers in the road half of the regular-season series, with control of the AFC North hanging in the balance. My take: That shouldn't provide all that much solace. Even with LaMarr Woodley and James Farrior unlikely to play, the Steelers' defense is still far superior to the two teams that have given the Ravens headaches the past two weeks.