Here's how the Ravens plan to slow Antonio Brown without their top CB

Jimmy Smith is out with a high-ankle sprain and won't play against Pittsburgh

The Steelers and Ravens meet Sunday in their most important game of the season. The winner is likely headed to the playoffs -- the Steelers clinch the AFC North with a victory -- while the loser could be on the outside looking in. And both teams will be without some of their best players.

For the Ravens, cornerback Jimmy Smith won't suit up, which means that Baltimore's second-ranked defense will have to contain Antonio Brown without its top cover guy. That's the bad news. The good news? The last time these two teams met, in Week 9, Smith was responsible for the Steelers' No. 2 receiver while the rest of the secondary double- and sometimes triple-teamed Brown.

Coach John Harbaugh addressed this Friday.

"Jimmy is a different kind of mover than Antonio Brown, so it wouldn't necessarily be the guy that you would match up with Antonio Brown," he said, via ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley.

So what's the plan?

"We just have to play each play like it will determine if we win or lose, in all honesty," said veteran safety Eric Weddle, who is in his first year in Baltimore. "If we give up a big play, we give up a long touchdown, that may be the difference. If we all have that focus and we all have that mindset that this play that I'm about to play in could be the difference. ... If we have that sincerity, that focus, that determination to play my best each play, I think we'll have a great performance."

Put another way: Smith's loss can be mitigated. Unfortunately, the man replacing him in the lineup, Shareece Wright, has struggled for much of this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Wright has allowed six touchdowns in 10 games. There's more: The passer rating when he is in coverage? A stratospheric 120.0.

So while the game plan will ostensibly focus on stopping Brown, Wright will be tasked with slowing the other would-be pass catchers. The Steelers will be without tight end Ladarius Green and deep threat Sammie Coates, which makes Wright's job easier, but that still leaves Le'Veon Bell coming out of the backfield, as well as slot receiver Eli Rogers, who caught five passes for 75 yards and a score in last week's win over the Bengals.

Also worth noting: Speedy wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey, who suffered a foot injury against the Ravens in the first matchup, is listed as questionable. He would provide the Steelers a much-needed deep threat. And in place of Green, who has quickly become a favorite of Ben Roethlisberger, is the three-headed tight-end monster of -- Jesse James, Xavier Grimble and David Johnson.

If the Steelers win Sunday, they'll take the division for the second time in three years. And if you're keeping score, the last time the Steelers beat Baltimore was November 2014, when Roethlisberger threw for 340 yards and six touchdowns.