Ravens week is coming up and the game has huge stakes for both teams. See what former Steelers have said about this rivalry in our interviews with them:
Dick LeBeau: “I think in my association with the NFL – with that rivalry and the games we played – it was the two hardest hitting teams I ever saw. Not just sometimes – every game. It was a continuing affair and both were really good teams and went deep into the playoffs. It’s a great rivalry still.”
Aaron Smith: “I have a great one about Joey Porter. Joey was always a big talker but I wasn’t a huge talker. We were playing Baltimore and we were killing them. I was across from Orlando Brown – and he was big on intimidation. The visor, the way he looked at you like he was crazy and threw his arms around. Well I was kicking Orlando’s butt but again, I wasn’t one to talk trash. That wasn’t my thing. But Joey started yelling at Orlando and talking trash to him, telling him “Smith is kicking your butt!” I kept telling Joey to shut up – that he didn’t have to line up across from him.. He didn’t even have to line up on the same side!”
Carey Davis: “I think there is a mutual respect for one another, but once you get on the field all that goes out the window. Coach T would always say the toughest team would win the game. Both physically and mentally. Most times that’s what it boiled down to. There were a lot of hard hits in those games and we tried to make sure that we were the team hitting the hardest.”
Rod Woodson: “The biggest impact when I left the Steelers and played for the Ravens was with a young Ray Lewis. He was talented but didn’t know how to be a professional. He didn’t know what to do. I told him he needed to speak up. And to take care of his body. To be that voice in the locker room. He listened and became a great mentor and the voice for the Ravens.”
Corey Ivey: “The Ravens games were the closest thing there was to a college rivalry. When I was in Baltimore the first time – in 2006 – I remember walking into the locker room the week before the Steelers game and they had printed t-shirts for all of us that had a Raven giving the finger and the shirt said “Fuck the Steelers!” I was just like, “Wow!” Those were hostile games.”
Al-Hajj Shabazz: “The Ravens picked me up after Pittsburgh waived me. They were the only other team that practiced as physical as the Steelers did. And the teams did not like each other. When all the new guys came to the team at the start of camp they’d talk about where they were from, and coming from Pittsburgh they did look at me funny!”
Lee Mays: “My biggest thing was playing against out biggest Rivals – the Ravens. McAllister was tough and smart. I remember we were all talking about who hit us the hardest and for me it was Ray Lewis. He hit me on a drag route – clean-clocked me. I didn’t know where I was for three-to-four plays.”
Mike Quinn: “The first time I saw regular season action was against the Ravens at Three Rivers – I remember that well. It was 37-0 – we were blowing them out. Cowher was about to put Tomczak in and Mike asked Cowher “Why don’t you put the kid in?” Cowher thought about it and said, “Ok, go tell him” – Tomczak came over to me and said he got Cowher to put me in the game, “but it was going to cost me 50 bucks “ So I came in in the fourth quarter and finished the game. The next day Tomczak asked me if I had fun – then asked me for the $50. I laughed and he said “No, where is it?” So I gave him the $50! It was pretty funny.”
Max Starks: “Playing against the Ravens and Ogden helped a lot because I got to watch a lot of film on him since we played similar opponents. I learned some from him on how to change my sets.”
Tyler Grisham: “Having the opportunity to play in four games with the team and record a catch against our rival, the Ravens, for a first down are memories that will last a lifetime.”
George Jones: “Kordell matured too – he went from Slash – option running back and receiver – to starting quarterback. He put it all together. He threw well and ran well when he needed to. I remember he won the game for us against Baltimore. He ran for 60 yards or more to win the game. He carried the team to the AFC Championship Game.”
Jovon Johnson: “One thing I remember. In the first game of the season we played Baltimore. We were playing Cover Two – I was pressing the receiver. Troy Polamalu was supposed to be the safety covering my side but I looked over and he was in the box. I was waving to him – I didn’t know if he knew what the play was – I was yelling at him asking what he was doing. Well, they threw the ball, and I looked and saw Troy had intercepted the ball twenty yards downfield! When we got to the sidelines I told him he had me clueless. He just told me not to worry about him!”
Eli Rogers: “One memory that I’m sure many Steelers fans remember. It was a Christmas night game versus the Ravens. It was the last drive and we were going no-huddle. Ben hit some guys downfield and we were driving. It was third and 12 and Ben rolled to his right and I made a great catch for the first down. I came across the middle as he was rolling out and he threw it in an area where I could make a catch and I made a great catch. That memory stands out for me.”
Nick Eason: “I think my best moment was at halftime, being down 24-7 to Baltimore in the playoffs. I knew we were going to win that game. I trusted our offense and knew we could win.”
Brian St. Pierre: “When the Steelers cut me in 2005 I was angry. I felt I had earned the right to make that team and was actually told I did two days prior to being cut. I still, to this day, don’t know what happened, but when Coach Whipple asked Bill if he was going to put me in for the fourth quarter versus Carolina (fourth preseason game) and the answer was no, I knew my fate was sealed.
Baltimore picked me up and I was ready to move on. When Ben got injured mid-season vs. San Diego, Kevin Colbert called to try and sign me off of Baltimore’s practice squad, but I declined because I wanted to play and Baltimore.”
Bobby Shaw: “Going ninety yards versus Baltimore to win the division was definitely one {of my favorite memories}.”
Tim Baker: “My fondest memory of my football career – why I bleed Black and Gold – is after we beat the Ravens in the playoff game that 2001 season. Rooney came down to the locker room with a list of names and $100 bills. He gave each of us $200 and shook our hands and told us it was a great game, that we should go get some dinner on him.”
Will Blackwell: “I remember when we beat Baltimore my rookie year. We played on a grass field and I had some key plays in the game. I returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown and earned a family in the stands free season tickets from a contest for that!”
Greg Warren: “On the field, the biggest story I remember was during my rookie year. We were playing Baltimore at Heinz Field and I was running down on a punt. The receiver caught the ball and he did kind of a little lateral run to the sideline. I did the same thing and was facing the sideline, and got within what seemed like inches of tackling him when I felt like I got hit by a truck. I was laying on my back staring at the sky and I couldn’t breathe. It felt like for minutes, though it was probably for seconds. I seriously couldn’t breathe and I thought, this is it, this is how it ends, with me as a rookie dying on the field. The trainer sat with me and helped me relax, then Jerame Tuman came over. Jerame was the emergency snapper and he didn’t like doing it. He asked me if I was ok and I thought he was concerned about me! It turned out he was just worried he was going to have to snap for the rest of the game. Fortunately I was ok and snapped again.
The next day when I watched film of the play I saw what happened. Bart Scott had come up the sideline and planted his facemask on my chest. It was my welcome to the NFL moment. I wonder if he even remembers the hit.”
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
