Ravens rivalry connotes nasty in Tomlin’s eye

Although he’s a newcomer, Pitttsburgh’s coach likes the ‘heated’ aspect of the matchup vs. Baltimore.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is new to this AFC North rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens. That doesn’t mean he needs to be briefed about its history or its nasty personality.

The tapes from last season’s two games told him all he needed to know.

During former coach Bill Cowher’s 15 seasons, no other division team roughed up the Steelers the way the Ravens did last year in winning 27-0 in Baltimore and 31-7 in Pittsburgh.

The scoreboard wasn’t all the Ravens dominated. They stuffed the Steelers at the line of scrimmage, shut down their running game, sacked Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch 14 times without giving up a sack themselves and generally played school-yard bully during the two mismatches.

No, Tomlin didn’t need someone to break down the tapes.

“I didn’t look at last year’s tape with a mentality of looking for mismatches or having an understanding of what our guys were being asked to do,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “I was just looking for their playing personality when they play the Pittsburgh Steelers, what they were intent on getting done and how they went about executing it.”

What Tomlin saw was a Baltimore team that knew it was better and played like it, never giving the Steelers a chance to settle into a rhythm or establish an offensive flow. The Ravens went on to finish 13-3 and win the division by five games.

Times change quickly in the NFL, however, and so has the rivalry.

Now, it’s the Ravens (4-3) who are chasing the Steelers (5-2), with Monday night’s game in Pittsburgh representing a two-game swing in the standings.

Should the Ravens win, they’ll even up the race with half a season to go. If the Steelers win, they’ll be up by two with games against the Jets (1-7) and Dolphins (0-8) later this month.

Obviously, Tomlin is about to learn what Ravens-Steelers games are like. After years with big-talking linebackers Ray Lewis on one side and Joey Porter on the other, though Porter is now with Miami, there is understandably an intense dislike between the two.

“I don’t like too many people I compete against when I am competing,” Tomlin said, suggesting it won’t be difficult to work up disdain for Baltimore. “The dislike is probably something that sizzles and sells. The reality is it’s a hot matchup because it is generally two good football teams that play football in a similar style.

“I expect it to be heated and it definitely will be in terms of the hatred and things of that nature.”