Players on the Ravens and the Steelers have been keeping track of the smack talk.
“Somebody’s going to be mad after this one,” said Pittsburgh linebacker James Farrior. “This one’s going to sit a little bit longer than these other divisional games. It’s going to be a big one. It’s going to raise the level. I think [Baltimore’s] Bart Scott said, ‘It’s going to raise the level of hatred between the two teams,’ and I believe that too.”
Scott said that, and more, of the team’s matchup at 6:30 Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.
This rivalry is becoming one of the NFL’s best and certainly one of the most intense. Others are more longstanding, but this one matches two teams with similar styles: hard-hitting defenses and big-armed quarterbacks. And they play twice a year.
“If you want to go to the Super Bowl, who else would you rather it be but the Pittsburgh Steelers,” linebacker Scott said. “Somebody is going to be happy, somebody is going to be hurt. What other team would you rather do it to?”
Ravens safety Ed Reed (at left) tried to explain the rivalry. Honestly, he doesn’t have to.
“I think it’s just the love for the game that both of us have,” he said. “I think Pittsburgh has an awesome tradition around there, obviously, with the Steel Curtain and everything going back to those days. And we have a tradition around here that began before I got here. I think it’s just two teams that really enjoy playing football, that really like getting after it.”
But even Baltimore rookie quarterback Joe Flacco can’t help but get in on the action, brushing off the Steelers as just another opponent.
“How much more fun does it get? You’re in the AFC Championship Game,” Flacco said. “Yeah, they’re a good defense, but we’ve faced a lot of good defenses all year, and it’s just another challenge for us. We’ve come up empty twice against them now, and we’re ready to go get them again. And it should be a lot of fun.”
For the winner.
