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The last thing the Ravens want is for the Steelers to have a party on their M&T Bank Stadium home turf. 

If the Steelers beat the Ravens on Sunday, and the Jets lose to the Patriots, Pittsburgh will clinch a spot in this year’s playoffs. In a tough season in Baltimore, that would be just one more bitter pill.

Two weeks ago, Head Coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens’ weren’t interested in the “spoiler” narrative during their final stretch.

On Wednesday, his players continued that sentiment. Extra motivation to beat the Steelers? There’s already plenty of it.

“It means something just to beat Pittsburgh, period,” wide receiver Kamar Aiken said. “If we can sweep them for the year, that’s big for us because of the rivalry in itself. That’ll be an extra bonus if we can knock them out, too.”

The Ravens’ Week 4 win over Pittsburgh earlier this year was one of the two biggest highlights of the season (the Cleveland kick-six being the other). Kicker Justin Tucker won the game on a 52-yard boot in overtime.

Since then, the Ravens (4-10) have won just three games. The Steelers (9-5) have walked away happy from seven of their next 10 games, including three straight victories over 2014 playoff teams (Colts, Bengals, Broncos).

That hasn’t made much of an impression on defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan.

“We don’t think those guys are any better than us,” he said. “At the end of the day, they have a better record than us. The season has gone more like they planned rather than how we planned our season. I feel like that’s the only difference standing between us is our record.”

As has been said so many times in the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, and repeated by Aiken on Wednesday, the records can be thrown out.

However, it’s rare in the Ravens-Steelers rivalry that the game doesn’t have big implications for both teams. The last time that happened, at least for Baltimore, was the 2007 regular-season finale. The Ravens had lost nine straight games heading into that contest. Pittsburgh had already locked up the AFC North title.

The Ravens won, 27-21, that day at M&T Bank Stadium.

This time around, Baltimore is likely taking a similar mental approach.

“Whether we’re 0-14 or 14-0, the Steelers game is the Steelers game, no matter what,” defensive tackle Brandon Williams said. “It’s going to be a high-intensity game. …We’re going to fight, and they’re going to know they’re going to be in a fight.”

“At the end of the day, it’s the Steelers,” Jernigan added. “We don’t like them and they don’t like us. They definitely better be ready to play and we’re going to be ready to play also.”

Do the Ravens still expect the same black and blue sort of game?

“It’s a rivalry game, so we know it’s going to be a gritty, nasty game,” Aiken said. “We’re looking forward to it.”

Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin tread carefully with his words Wednesday. He said he didn’t have any feelings “of any significance” on the Ravens’ losing season and said he only follows their season for two to three weeks a year, depending on how often they play.

When pressed on whether he would feel any extra joy if the Steelers were to clinch in Baltimore, Tomlin said, “It’d be difficult for me to care less about the location.”

“We’ve been playing every game as a playoff game for the last few weeks now,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger echoed. “So, we’re going to continue to do that, because this is a big game for us.”