**Ben Roethlisberger won't play Sunday** after he suffered a sprained shoulder in Monday night's game against the Chiefs.
This will mark the fifth time of Roethlisberger's career that he will be forced to watch a game against the Ravens from the sideline.
And that could be good news for the Ravens.
The Ravens are 4-0 against the Steelers in games where Roethlisberger is hurt or suspended, compared to 9-5 with him in the lineup (combined regular season and postseason). With Roethlisberger out, the Steelers will turn to veteran Byron Leftwich, who has started just three games in the last four seasons. Pittsburgh also has veteran Charlie Batch on the roster.
While the Ravens have won all four games against the Steelers without Roethlisberger, the margin of victory has been tight. The four wins have come by a combined score of 15 points.
The last time the Ravens faced the Steelers without Roethlisberger was in 2010, when he was suspended for the first four games of the season. Batch started in his place and nearly led the Steelers to a 4-0 start in Roethlisberger's absence, but a touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to T.J. Houshmandzadeh at Heinz field gave the Ravens a 17-14 victory with 32 seconds left.
In 2009, Dennis Dixon started in place of Roethlisberger and kept it close at M&T Bank Stadium before throwing an interception in overtime to set up a Ravens' game-winning field goal. Dixon is now on the Ravens practice squad.
The Ravens beat the Steelers 27-21 with Batch as the starting quarterback in 2007, which turned out to be Brian Billick's final game as the head coach. The other win without Roethlisberger came in 2005, when the Ravens won an overtime game 16-13 with Tommy Maddox at quarterback.
