Steelers, Ravens have new looks

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

Not too long ago, Terrell Suggs spent extra time in the weight room in anticipation of the hard-hitting, physically exhausting drama known as Steelers vs. Ravens.

“You had to become a different kind of player when you played them,” said Suggs, a six-time Pro Bowl linebacker who’s been dueling Pittsburgh since entering the league in 2003.

Back in heyday of this rivalry, Suggs and teammates Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata, as well as Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward, doled out punishment without compromise. Suggs recalls his preparation for playing against Heath Miller, a 6-foot-5 tight end who enjoyed a pancake block as much as a reception.

“It was, ‘All right, I know I’m going to be fighting with 83, so let me go ahead and get an extra lift and get my neck right,”’ Suggs said.

Suggs is one of the few remaining stars in a rivalry that almost always has playoff ramifications and occasionally extends into the postseason. Today, first place in the AFC North will be at stake when Pittsburgh comes to town.

The difference is that Baltimore (3-4) went 5-11 last year and has lost four straight . The Steelers (4-3) have dropped two in a row and are unsure if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be able to play after undergoing knee surgery in mid-October.

If Roethlisberger can’t go, Pittsburgh will turn to Landry Jones, who’s never faced Baltimore and has three career starts.

“The characters have changed in this show,” Suggs said. “But the mentality and the mood is still the same.”

It’s still Steelers-Ravens, regardless of the cast and the mediocre record of each team.

“I told the guys walking off the field, ‘This game has the potential to define you. You will never forget it,”’ Suggs said.

Of the last 16 games between these teams, no fewer than a dozen have been decided by three points or fewer.

“We have been in a lot of close football games with these guys. We respect them,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

The word “hate” used to thrown around a lot before the Steelers faced the Ravens. Not so much anymore.

“It is at their place; it is a division game,” Tomlin said. “Those are the things that kind of encompass our focus.”