Despite the dips in style points, the Ravens were a gaudy 7-2 in November and next up came the game everyone circled when the NFL matchups were released back in April. When the schedule says: “At Pittsburgh,” that’s all you really need to know if you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan.
The Ravens would have the luxury of not only catching the Steelers on short rest the following Sunday, they’d have the ability to watch them play live on Monday Night Football against the woeful Chiefs. That night, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger left the game early in the third quarter after being slammed to the ground by Kansas City linebackers Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation and was later diagnosed with a separated shoulder that would keep him out of at least the first, and perhaps both games against Baltimore.
Things were setting up nicely for the Ravens in Pittsburgh, where they had won their 2011 visit on a last minute catch in the corner of the end zone by Torrey Smith after he had dropped an easy touchdown pass from Flacco earlier in the game on the left side. The Ravens knew they could win in Pittsburgh, and some of the previous mystique had worn off. No one on the Ravens was intimidated by going to Heinz Field anymore.
Words never need to be exchanged in the rivalry between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Over the 17 years since the Ravens came to the Charm City to play in the same conference as the Steelers, it’s been 258 miles of disdain up and down I-70 through the mountains from the two deeply passionate sports communities. The civic rivalry goes deeper than Primanti’s vs. crab cakes, or Steelers vs. Ravens.
Dating back to the 1971 World Series, the city of Baltimore has been eliminated from the postseason in baseball and football seven straight times without a win over Pittsburgh. The Orioles lost to Roberto Clemente in ’71 and to Willie Stargell and the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates again in 1979, squandering a 3-1 lead in the series. In the NFL, the Baltimore Colts were eliminated in 1975 and 1976 by the Steel Curtain defense and Terry Bradshaw’s legendary Steelers team, destroying Bert Jones and the Sack Pack both years. In the modern era, the Ravens lost January knockout games at Heinz Field in 2002, 2009 and 2011.
There was no love lost from anyone on either side of the civic Hatfield v. McCoy feuds that travel through Breezewood. Over the years the players have gotten into the act with various characters like Hines Ward, James Harrison, Chris McAlister and others feuding in different ways.
Perhaps the snarkiest remark in recent times came from Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley, who said in June 2011 that Flacco would never win the Super Bowl. “Because they have to go through one team – that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers in that AFC Championship,” Woodley said. “So in order for them to get to the Super Bowl, they have to beat us, and we’re not gonna let that happen once we get that close. So that’s not gonna happen in this lifetime.”
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Flacco later responded, “Obviously he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. At some level I don’t care [what Woodley says] because what does that really mean? But there is another level where it does kind of piss you off a little bit.”
The pundits and media types break out all of the war talk when the Steelers and Ravens get together. Bare knuckles. Back alley brawl. Hated rivals. These teams don’t like each other. You can almost picture these games in grainy, throwback kind of footage on NFL Films with the voice of Jon Facenda saying, “It’s a game of attrition, violence and sheer force.”
Harbaugh painted a more mystical picture: “It’s almost surreal. All of a sudden, everything’s different. You go into this dark place. It’s like you’re in this globe, in a good way, and suddenly there’s nothing outside of that moment, outside of that stadium. It’s unique to these games, and yet, both teams are so comfortable in that place. It’s where we’re supposed to be; it’s where they’re supposed to be. It’s hard to describe.”
