Steelers

Steelers-Ravens chat featuring Jerry Micco & Ron Fritz of the Baltimore Sun

Ray Rice lives for third down. First and second down are good, mind you, but third down is what Rice does best. The veteran Ravens running back showed again Sunday why he is one of the NFL's most dynamic and clutch players. He broke the back of Pittsburgh's vaunted defense by converting five third-down plays in the first half, and his two early touchdowns paved the way for a 35-7 rout of the Steelers. "I've always embraced the third-down role," Rice said afterward. "So if I need a blow, I'm going to take it on first or second down because third down is the most important down in the NFL. Me, Cam [Cameron]

Jamison Hensley Ravens, 17-12 The Ravens' defense will prove it is better than the Steelers'. David Steele Ravens, 16-13 They were almost good enough to win in Pittsburgh in Week 4; now they can finish the job. Edward Lee Steelers, 16-14 In what could be a battle between quarterbacks, Ben Roethlisberger has the edge in experience. Peter Schmuck Ravens, 20-16 In the biggest test of the season for the Ravens, the defense will make sure they get a passing grade. Ken Murray Ravens, 13-10 All the big plays will be on defense, and Ed Reed plays that game well.

The difference between the Steelers and the Ravens isn't wide enough to slide a Ritz cracker through. On its edge. Both meetings took almost forever to decide, one going 59:17 before a disputed winning touchdown, the only touchdown, and the other couldn't be settled in the customary 60 minutes, requiring more than six minutes of bonus mayhem. That the Steelers won both times indicates, depending on your perspective, either something or nothing. It would appear therefore, that this AFC championship game will turn on little things, very little things, wicked little things.

Ravens fans won’t soon forget Ray Rice’s fumble against the Steelers in the AFC Divisional Round. The loss can’t be blamed on Rice, but his fumble early in the third quarter was the turning point as the Steelers overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to beat the Ravens, 31-24, in a game the Ravens feel they gave away. The fumble, the first of three Ravens turnovers in the third quarter, led to the first of three second-half touchdowns for the Steelers. But the running back said Thursday that it didn’t take him long to forget it. “I have a short memory.

Like just another random flock of tech-obsessed gamers, the Steelers will spend Sunday playing Angry Birds, but their hyper-specialized version promises to be a lot more painful. We presume a high level of anger whenever the Baltimore Ravens and the Steelers convene. We presume a matchup of enraged defenses, of offenses trying to function amid their own barely controlled fury, of special teams just about certifiably psychotic. Yet, the issue of who starts the NFL season 1-0 in Baltimore won't likely boil down to which team is angrier.

You know what they say about being careful about what you wish? It has me worried this morning. "It's got to be Baltimore," Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was saying Sunday. "I've had a feeling it was going to be Baltimore all along. I wouldn't want it any other way. It's going to be some football game. " For those of us watching, sure. There's nothing better in the NFL than Ravens-Steelers, especially at Heinz Field in the playoffs. I'm already counting down minutes until 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The fact that the Ravens swept the Pittsburgh Steelers and are on to bigger and better things this season could lead to the perception that Bill Cowher's resignation isn't a big deal for them. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's a huge deal. The coach known as The Chin, who announced his resignation yesterday after coaching the Steelers for 15 seasons, got the best of the Ravens much more often than not. He dominated them. There's no telling what will happen in Pittsburgh now, but the departure of Cowher, one of the NFL's best coaches, means the Ravens have a better shot at becoming the lords of the AFC North.

I wouldn't expect anyone in Ravens-land to be very sympathetic regarding much having to do with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I know that Baltimore fans, along with NFL followers everywhere, were saddened by the news yesterday of the passing of former Steelers announcer Myron Cope. Cope, 79, was truly an NFL treasure. Extremely partisan to be sure, he was also the father of a football icon, the Terrible Towel. If you used to bristle at the way Cope - whose voice I can best describe as a polka accordion being run over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - occasionally called the Ravens the Bal-ti-more Black Birdies, take consolation in that he gave a pretty good razzing to the "Cleve Brownies" and the "Cincy Bungles," too. And if for no other reason, I will always hold Mr. Cope in the highest regard for having the kind of chutzpah to good-naturedly nickname the aloof Chuck Noll - "Emperor Chaz."

TEMPE, Ariz. -- He had brought them back, nearly all the way back, back from 13-0, back from 20-7, back to where the Pittsburgh Steelers had a chance to end 11 years of AFC misery in the Super Bowl.Now it was Steelers ball, four minutes left, down three points. Neil O'Donnell had completed 10 of his previous 12 passes, produced 10 fourth-quarter points. One last drive, from his 32, a chance to make Super Bowl history.Who could have imagined what happened next? O'Donnell already had thrown one inexplicable interception to Larry Brown.