Preacher

And these two teams are separated by 3 points with teh Ravens having the ball. DID ANYONE expect anything else?

Interesting. I have used the exact same argument on my homeboards... The rules are simple. You must hit between the nipples and the knees- you must attempt to wrap your arms around him- and you must attempt to take the guy to the ground WHILE WRAPPED. Really, if the rules were put into place like this, there really wouldn't be any problems. Harrison's last hit which he was fined for would not have been a fine. His hit against Cleveland would have been illegal because "He didn't attempt to wrap the guy up, or hit him in the target area". The problem is, IMO, the league really DOESN'T want the players to wrap up. Those tackles aren't as thrilling, and they also don't allow for the ball carrier to stay on their feet and break out for another 20 yards. Hence, it "doesn't sell the game" as well. No, I think the rules really, are all about the money at this point- which IS WHY I think Brady and Manning are pampered. Ben was injured last week on a play that should not only have received a penalty, but probably should have been fined. He was twisted up like a pretzel long after releasing the ball- he actually was already on the ground. Yet nothing was called. If that had been Flacco, again there would be no call. Yet, I have seen players simple get CLOSE to Brady's knees, and get a flag.

Seeing as Suggs has stepped up to back up Harrison, I really do think he will be targeted this week by Gooddeal.

Interesting poll. I think anyone who is confident of a win.. no matter which team they root for, going into this weekend is way out of line. I am right inline with most of the replies, from the other side. I think our offense should be able to put up 14-17 points. I think our defense will hold you all down to 10-13 points... right up to the 5 minute mark of the fourth quarter. At that point, all bets are off. Our passing D is horrid, ESPECIALLY at the end of the game. Our offense seems to only respond at the beginning and at the end of games. The BIGGER question is.... well..... Naa.... I think that one deserves its own poll.

From my perspective, you have to give it to your O line. Our entire pass-defense is based on being able to rush and hurry the passer. Your line did a very good job stopping our LB's. THAT, is where the game was won. Had they not stopped our LB's, Flacco would have been harassed and forced into a lot more mistakes. While that is true of any team, your O line did it against possibly the best LB pass-rush tandem in the NFL today. CLEARLY, I would give them the game ball.

That's ok, When you're used to these days I can understand a little chest thumping today! And the rivalry never ends.

Funny thing, had my Steelers won the game, I would probably have felt like that about them too for the most part. So I think the question that you should really be asking is... what is the multiplication factor when playing against THIS division opponent? You played the mirror image of your defense, and yet, both of our offenses, which looked sickly at times, put up 14 points, and drove into position for at least two field goal tries. That means, both offenses put the ball in position to score 4 times this game. There are teams that won't do that twice against either of our defenses all game. With that said, I am not sure I would be so hard on your offense. They handled themselves well against the number 2 defense (I would have said overall number 1 before the game, but a loss is a loss).

What a good game today for you guys. Your defense played very hard. Mendy had some good pops, but nothing over 10 yards I believe. Batch was hurried a number of times. Your offense had a couple VERY nice drives. You are the first team to score a touchdown on us outside of prevent/junk-time TD's. I could say that with Ben, I think we may have won, HOWEVER, with Ed Reed, your defense improves quite a bit as well, which balances that out. AND, which is very nice to see and say, the Refs called what seemed like a VERY good game as well. I didn't see one penalty that I disagreed with... well, one. But that one the refs stopped, conversed, and got it right. It pains me deeply to say this, but today, The Ravens were definitely the better team. So enjoy the win, and bask in the glory, cause we're head your way in a little while for some revenge!

Dang good post... and dead on-except for the Titans comment... you have to remember that the hatred between the Titans and Steelers is just about as high as the hatred between the Steelers and Ravens. Goes back to the old Houston Oilers days--and it is definitely remembered in the Steelers-Titans games (hence, 4 fights in that game). The bigger issue however, is that they all have decent defenses, with Tampa's seemingly getting quite good (before last Sunday), so I wouldn't discount the games THAT much. However, we have A LOT of weaknesses still, even on defense. Our late game pass coverage scares the snot out of me. We let WAY too many teams back in the game, and I am not sure that has been fixed. Batch will be asked to do a bit more than protect the ball, but not much more. He'll put it over the top in the hopes that Wallace (or one of our two speedster rookies) can go deep on the secondary. That play will be to loosen up running lanes more than anything else, but if it hits.... But in the end, I completely agree. I do not see either team winning the game and losing the turnover battle. These two teams just hate each other too much for that, and really, I think that is what it amounts too!

That may cut both ways however. If the Steelers are able to get a push and 3-5 yards a rush the first few tries, that "here we go again" voice may start creeping in. That, more than anything else, is a killer. Even the best players hear it. Also, our O line is in a similar position. A New center is trying to prove himself (and has done a decent job so far), we have a guy at RG that has been on the team for a couple of years. He seems to excel everyone he is put (heck, even at FB at one point), but for some reason, was never given a shot. A solid game against the Ravens ups his stock tremendously in taking over that position... something you can bet the coaches are informing him about, since he is young and it would alleviate the Steelers having to draft for RG next year. Mendy is trying to prove he is the main man, and Redman that he can be the FB for this team. So, it would seem that both sides are coming in with something to prove, but the Steelers won't have to deal with the "Here we go again" thoughts as much as the Ravens will based on recent games. Then again, mental toughness is something neither team lacks. I'd agree concerning last year. However, in the AFCCG, the MNF game a couple years ago, as well as a couple others, it was our D. that was principally responsible for the wins IMO. Our offense is actually better right now than it was for most of our SB season-mainly because our O-line is starting to settle out with Pouncy, Legursky, and Kemo also settling in. The tackles scare me. But even Flozell is starting to play well. Sometimes, the truth is so absolute, that no argument can be made otherwise. "CATCH THE BALL IKE" has escaped my mouth more than once this year already.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I read that Rice won't be playing Sunday. It's a little early in the week for that kind of comment, but I thought I heard it somewhere. Either way, the Timmons RB matchup will be one that interests me. On the Flacco vs. Troy P. Matchup: This is the kind of match up where twice a year, your QB gets to measure himself against the best (arguably, with Ed Reed as the other in the argument...another thread!) in the league. Heck, to be honest, I know at least most of those who post on my Steelers forum seem to use these games as measuring sticks as well. It'll be interesting to see how he does, since the last time they saw each other, was in the AFCCG- (I believe Troy was already out the second time by the time we met you all last year. On Flozell Adams. Suggs may have a good day, but if he does, it'll be because of speed, not power. I am quite amazed at Adams' strength even at his age. Furthermore, he has actually started putting together some good work. I think he is getting used to that side. So that will be an interesting match up to watch. Ok. SCREW IT. The match up to watch is Purple vs. Black. And I wouldn't worry about "previous games" this season. This is the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town to play the Ravens. We could be 15-0 and you 0-15, and it still would be a "Kick 'em in the teeth 10-7" type of game. That is why this is probably the best NEW rivalry in the league. Of course, when someone asks who the Steelers TRUE rivals are, the answer is simple... One Man. Paul Brown. The founder of the Former Browns turned Ravens, the center figure of the Bengals, and the roots of the new Browns team.

Great, thanks... Now you got the "Mr. Hanky" song in my head.

I have to admit, I haven't been following the Ravens this year. So I am wondering what you all think about some of the matchups... For me, I am going to be really interested in your RB's vs. Timmons, who is have a tremendous breakout year-he is disrupting a LOT of run plays right now. I am also interested in how our new center and RG will stack up against a real defense. Pouncy is looking like a beast. I have been watching Legursky (who was an undrafted FA a couple years ago). He has performed in every role he has been given, including FB. Now, he is starting as RG, and really dominated the line with Pouncy last game. I think this week will be a BIG test for them to see if they are as good as the Steelers hope they are. Another matchup, will be your passing against our Pass defense. it ISNT good. Sure, we get turnovers and sacks. However, check out the stats, the STeelers D ranks in the bottom third of the league in passing. My fear is that we will be up in the fourth, and our D will let you all walk right down the field and put it in the endzone to end the game. From your perspective, what are some good matchups to be watching?!?!

Hilarious... If I may, here is one one attempt at smack. Hope its a typical smack your mamma kick your papa throw the dog over the fence Steelers/Ravens game... with a lot of rung bells, aches and pains, and no real injuries.

Good point. Gotta wonder however, is it that Ed Reed is getting caught out of position more, or is it that he is getting older, and has lost that top 1% or so of speed and reaction time? Seems like he has been injured more lately... and nobody can defy age, especially when speed is part of your position a la Willie Parker.

Good points everyone. Remember though last year, that Aaron Smith was also out. He is one of the top two or three DE's in the league. Sadly, because we play the 3-4, he doesn't get the recognition (Lack of sack numbers, which is a LB responsibility in our 3-4 scheme). On top of that, William Gay was our second starting CB. I find it interesting that after teams were able to get some game film on him, he was consistently burned last year. Rumor has it he was getting burned so bad that management had to remove all the fire-alarms in the locker rooms after games. We also lost about 5 games last year in the last few minutes and within a fieldgoal or TD. Much of that was our inability to score a TD and kill clock with the run game. I am not diminishing the impact of Troy, but rather, that I actually think our defense had many more problems last year. Our getting Aaron back, McFadden back, moving Gay to a place where he excels (nickle CB), Timmons rise this year, and LeBeau's new wrinkles to the scheme (he is actually rolling CB's up on the WR's at times now) have all added to the restoration of our D. _______________________________ As far as QB's and OC's worrying about Ed vs. Troy, I would observe it this way: For pure passing, I think they worry more about Ed. For general disruption of the offense, I think they worry more about Troy, as they have to account for him on running plays, blitzing, and he also is very dang good on pass coverage. One place where Ed excels over Troy however, is the homerun dagger to the heart after INTs. Troy has had two that I remember. One against the Bengals, and the other against you all in the AFCCG. Ed seems to have one about every couple of weeks. Here is an off-shoot to this discussion-- Which is the better safety tandem, yours or ours? (BTW, don't you all love the "you, my, etc. etc., as if ANY OF US actually played on the team? I have always laughed at that, even when I use it!).

Hmm. I missed that article. Would love to read it. That would make sense as well, as Reed has always been a class act as far as I know. You do bring up a good point though about the teams and their defenses. Troy makes our D much better, Ed Reed does the same for yours. I wonder what would happen if they switched teams? IMO, I think both of them would probably take a 20-30% hit in effectiveness (provided the teams didn't adjust for the players' style). Troy does seem to be the more instinctual player, Ed the more cerebral player. Troy and DPOY: I don't know. Harrison is making a strong bid as well as Timmons over the first two games. Somehow, If it was awarded today, I think they may split votes and someone else would get it. As far as Troy and Ed are concerned however, I have a feeling, QB's don't want to see either one.

First.. Hi, I joined this board back when the Steelers and Ravens met in the AFCCG, though I never got back to post. Regardless of who won that game... THAT is how football should be played. Anyway, The reason I came over, is because I saw Troy P. say something about Ed Reed, and I wanted to get the read of the Raven's fans on the subject. First, here is the video, My link So you all don't have to gag over Steelertalk go ahead and forward to :37 Aside from the "rivalry", I am honestly interested in what you all think about Troy as compared to Reed. Is one better than the other, about the same, or are they comparable? And, what do you all think of Troy's comments concerning Reed? Is he avoiding locker-room material, just being humble, or is there a real respect there? (BTW- I could care less for smack and flaming. Not my reason for being here).