Steelers ready for payback

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Ryan Clark remembers the dancing. And the jawing. And the seemingly countless celebrations.

Did the way the Baltimore Ravens enjoyed their 35-7 mauling of the Steelers in the season opener bother the veteran safety? Of course.

Then again, there’s not much Clark could do to stop it.

“People can throw parties when you can’t stop them from scoring, and we couldn’t stop them from scoring,” Clark said. “They can dance all they want.”

The Steelers turned the beatdown and the ensuing obituaries written from the critics about who gleefully detailed how the defending champions were “old, slow and ... over” into a rallying cry.

“That was y’all writing us off,” Clark said. “We felt like we had a bad one. We lost to a good team.”

Funny, Clark said, the Steelers didn’t look old, slow or over while knocking off Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 25-17 on Sunday to set up a rematch the Ravens next weekend.

And they haven’t lost much since.

The team that looked uninspired at best and ill-prepared at worst during a nightmarish opening month of the season is now the only team in the AFC with a 6-2 record.

It’s the fifth straight year the Steelers have started 6-2. And they acted like they’ve been there before even after beating Brady for the first time since 2004.

There were no bold proclamations even after limiting the NFL’s top offense to a paltry 213 yards.

The win means nothing if they can’t back it up against the Ravens (5-2).

It’s why wide receiver Mike Wallace opted to spend his Sunday night indoors rather than bask in one of the franchise’s biggest regular season victories in years.

“I’m not going out,” Wallace said afterward. “I’m going home right now and lock it. I’m ready for next week. I don’t care about nothing else.”

Neither do his teammates, though the Steelers could be without a couple of vital parts against the Ravens.

Linebacker LaMarr Woodley was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on the strained hamstring that cut his two-sack day short. Woodley sat out the fourth quarter but insisted he would be good to go on Sunday night.

“It was one of those sit now so I don’t miss three or four week things,” Woodley said.

The status of wide receiver Hines Ward (ankle) and linebacker James Farrior (back) is also unclear.

Both sat out against the Patriots, as did linebacker James Harrison, who missed his fourth straight game while recovering from a fractured right orbital bone.

Harrison hinted he would return in time to play the Ravens, and the Steelers could use him if Farrior and Woodley can’t go.

Then again, considering the way the patchwork defense has held its own so far, maybe the Steelers can get by without them.