OWINGS MILLS - Joe Flacco refuses to be haunted by the Pittsburgh Steelers even if they have behaved like vengeful ghosts whenever they've crossed his path.

The Baltimore Ravens' quarterback has a sterling record since entering the NFL headlined by three playoff appearances and at least one annual postseason victory.

As the Ravens kick off the season today at M&T Bank Stadium, Flacco has won only two of his previous eight starts against the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers.

During those meetings, Flacco has completed only 53.4 percent of his throws for seven touchdowns and eight interceptions with an average of 193.7 passing yards.

"If you look at the numbers, the quarterback rating and all that, you can make that case," coach John Harbaugh said when asked why Flacco hasn't played as well against the Steelers as he does against the rest of the league. "Specifically, why that is, I don't know. I'd be interested in your theories, though."

Flacco has piled up 10,206 career passing yards, 60 touchdowns and 34 interceptions and compiled a 36-19 record as a starter. Yet it's a different story altogether against the Steelers.

There's no more glaring example of that than his meltdown in the second half of the Ravens' 31-24 AFC divisional playoff loss to the Steelers last January.

After building a 21-7 lead by halftime where Flacco delivered a touchdown pass to tight end Todd Heap, everything went south in the second half. He lost a fumble, threw an interception into heavy coverage and was sacked twice in the third quarter as the Ravens lost four yards of offense.

Flacco isn't dwelling on that bad memory, though.

"You look at it right now when you prepare for Pittsburgh, but other than kind of thinking about it for a couple of months after you lost, we haven't necessary revisited it too much," Flacco said. "It is what it is. We didn't play well in the third quarter, they scored some points off our turnovers and we weren't quite capable of getting the game back. That game has no influence on this game."

Of course, that game included breakdowns in pass protection from the offensive line, wide receiver Anquan Boldin dropping a potential touchdown pass and T.J. Houshmandzadeh dropping a key fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter.

Flacco has never defeated the Steelers when Ben Roethlisberger is starting for them, going 0-6 with his lone wins against Pittsburgh coming against Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch.

Although Flacco has won the most games in his first three seasons as an NFL quarterback, he has yet to out duel Roethlisberger.

"I don't ever want to go out into a game and feel like I have something to prove personally," Flacco said. "I am going to go out there and give our team the best chance that we can to win. It's our job as a team to go out there and play up to our abilities and win the game."

During the offseason, Flacco was derided often for his uneven track record against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh has eliminated Baltimore from the playoffs two of the past three year. And outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley, a frequent tormenter of Flacco boldly declared that the idea of Flacco getting past the Steelers to make it to the Super Bowl "isn't going to happen in this lifetime."

Flacco passed for a career-high 3,622 yards and 25 touchdowns last season.

"I think Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback, and he just happens to play for us," running back Ray Rice said. "He's a winning quarterback. And people look at all this other stuff saying he didn't win a Super Bowl. When you look at a quarterback, if it's based on winning, you have to look at Joe Flacco."

The Steelers have been tough for anyone to solve.

They ranked first in passing defense when Flacco was a rookie, fifth in total defense during his second season and first in run defense last season.

Flacco passed for 256 and 266 yards during the regular season against the Steelers, but only 125 passing yards during the playoff game.

"I say it every year about Joe: I expect Joe to be a winning quarterback," Harbaugh said. "That means winning the game that's at hand. That's what he's going to have to do: do the things in this game to win this game, put us in position offensively to block the looks we want to block.

"Make the plays you need to make or make good decisions. It's really no different than any game. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. I think he's going to do real well and he's going to have a heck of a season."