STEELERS BLACK -N- GOLD POST A Pittsburgh Steelers Blog from the heart of Steelers Nation.

by Ramona Dye

As Ben Roethlisberger looked on from the sidelines in full uniform, Dennis Dixon started for our Steelers. Dixon had thrown only one pass in two seasons before getting the start against the Ravens due in point to a concussion suffered by Roethlisberger in last weeks Chiefs game.

Dixon did a good job for his first start in such a high priority game. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, and even added a score of his own, running for a 24 yard touchdown to put our Steelers up 17-14 in the fourth quarter.

However, in overtime Dixon's one turnover gave the Ravens the win and sent our Steelers to their third straight loss, our longest losing streak since a three-game run in 2006.

Paul Kruger picked off the pass and returned it 26 yards to the Pittsburgh 28, six plays later Raven's kicker Billy Cundiff delivered the game winning field goal in the Raven's first overtime win since November 2005 against our very own Steelers.

Our Steelers last two losses have come in overtime. Dixon went 12 for 26 for 145 yards, and Rashard Mendenhall went 95 yards on 24 carries.

Hoping to keep our playoff dreams alive, we will face off against the Oakland Raiders next week at home. Hopefully our Steelers can pull together a win. If we can win out maybe our season can be saved.

As always, Here We Go!!!

by Ramona Dye

The Steelers vs Ravens match-up could be a big role in deciding what team will reach the 2009 post season. The AFC North rivals will meet Sunday night in Baltimore with neither team in first place and searching for answers.

Our Steelers have lost back-to-back games for the second time this season and are 2-3 on the road. They won all three meetings with the Ravens last season, including the AFC championship game that sent the Steelers to Super Bowl XL III.

However, their victory in M&T Bank Stadium ended a five-game losing streak there. The Ravens have lost five of their past seven games after a 3-0 start, but four of their losses have been by a combined 13 points.

What must our Steelers do to beat the Ravens?

Watch our for Ed Reed. Reed has three interceptions, including a 52-yard scoring return this season, but hasn't had an INT in the past six games vs. our Steelers.

We must contain Joe Flacco who had five interceptions and a QB rating of 17.6 in his last two games against the Steelers in 2008.

Ray Rice has become the Ravens' featured back, but also has a team-high 17 catches on third down and tends to break tackles after short catches. So our number 2 ranked run defense must contain him.

Hopefully Ben Roethlisberger will be cleared to play against the Ravens but if not Dennis Dixon will get his first NFL start. Not to reassuring considering the rivalry we have with the Ravens.  Hopefully Dixon will be able to maintain a simple offense and hold up against the Ravens defense.

As always, Here We go!!!

By Ramona Dye

The 2009-10 season hasn't started yet and already the Steelers-Ravens rivalry has heated up. 

Check out Terrell Suggs heading into training camp wearing an "I hate the Steelers" shirt.

Suggs saw the shirt in a store and thought, "oh, that's nice for camp."  My thoughts? Yeah, we already know how you want to be a Steelers, too bad!

Naturally, Suggs, his teammates and Ravens fans would hate our Steelers and be jealous as well. We have had more success, both historical and recent, including our three wins over the Ratbirds last year than any other franchise in the NFL since 1970. In short, our Steelers set the standard for franchises in the NFL. Most importantly, we don't make our home in Baltimore.

The feelings of dislike are mutual in Pittsburgh. It's not that our Steelers and us of the Steelers Nation don't hate the Ravens, but some of you may get the sense that Baltimoreans have much stronger feelings about the rivalry. Could it be Ravens' fans have a deep-seated jealousy over a losing record to our wonderful Black n Gold (Steelers 18 Ravens 10 out of 28 games)?

NO! Steelers fans have the same hatred for the Ratbirds of Baltimore and those gay fans who wear purple and black. The rivalry comes from defensive battles often that result with injured players on both sides as well as fights on the. Some say that the rivalry between the Ravens and our Steelers is the best in the NFL.

Seeing Suggs wearing that t-shirt, we can see that players take seriously this great rivalry. It's no secret that the players from these teams don't like each other. Even the soft spoken, always smiling Hines Ward has been vocal about his hate for the Ravens, especially after several Ratbird players hinted about bounties on the heads of certain Steelers. 

It's a dirty, nasty, sometimes violent rivalry. That's what's so great about it.The truth is it's the most heated rivalry in sports. Here's why.

1. The teams are very similar and often games come right down to the end.
   
2. The Ratbirds and our beloved Steelers hate each other.
   
3. The fans hate each other. Going to away games is not always safe when visiting each others stadiums. Ravens fans make you feel unwelcome and let's just say Ravens fans don't want to come to Heinz Field games alone.

Suggs t-shirt is a topic of discussion among players at Steelers camp as well. Here's what some of our Steelers have said.

I'd hate us too. How about that? It doesn't matter. That's not the only team we play. We know every game is going to be a physical game. We know they're going to play very good, sound football. We're going to try to do the same. If that's the only two games we win this year, we won't be a very good football team. -- Ryan Clark.

I don't even pay attention to it. That just goes to show that they're worried about us. We're worried about our first game and that's the Tennessee Titans. We're not worried about playing Baltimore right now. When you focus on teams down the road, that's when the teams you're playing right ahead knock you around. --LaMarr Woodley

Last season, our Steelers won all three games against the Ratbirds, including the AFC championship game at Heinz Field.

Most NFL fans do not understand our rivalry. However, if you are a part of it you understand it, If you don't most like you are wishing you were a part of it. Maybe though, you are a fan of the cheating Patriots.

By Ramona Dye

Ravens fans and coaches seem to be pleased with their quarterback Joe Flacco and his play last season as a rookie.  With the 2009 season upon us, Ravens fans expect an increase in their passing game.

Can Flacco become a sophomore sensation like Ben when he led our Steelers to a wild card playoff and Super Bowl win? pffft!

Sure, Flacco has the arm to air the ball out. However, lacking speedy receivers, Flacco must become a better at throwing shorter pass routes. Yet, if something were to happen to Joe Flacco such as "sophmore slump" then he Ravens would be forced to play unknown back-up Troy Smith.

Receivers, Where Are You?

Earlier this month, wide receiver Derrick Mason surprised and shocked Ravensland with his unexpected retirement. To replace Mason, the Ravens signed 30-year old Drew Bennet to a 1-year deal worth $745,000. Two days later, Bennet retired blaming a nagging injury.

Bennett's decision not to play and Mason's retirement have left the Ravens lacking a threat at wide out .

The Ravens fans and coaches believe Mason's retirement is a ploy to get more money since Mason had asked to renegotiate his deal earlier this offseason.

Now that the Raven's receiving core is looking thin, the Ravens may be setting sights on Broncos' receiver Brandon Marshall. NFL sources say the Ravens might try to trade for the disgruntled Denver Broncos receiver, if veteran Derrick Mason doesn't return to the fold from his sudden retirement.

The Ravens have dire need for a real receiver. The Ravens slipped by last season with Mason and Mark Clayton because their running game was good and their #2 NFL ranked defense. Now they must get a receiver for Flacco ball to before the end of the Ray Lewis Era.

Looking back at Ravens' team history, they are not likely to make the deal for Marshall. GM Ozzie Newsome does not like to give up high draft picks, not to mention the Ravens should be a little more concerned with Marshall's history of off-field problems and the amount of money they would have to come across with to satisfy a Marshall contract signing.

Ravens Running Game

Already deep with running backs, the  Ravens drafted running back Cedric Peerman of Virginia known as a special teams stand-out.

Ravens Defense, Never More?

Along with defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, the Ravens lost play-making safety Jim Leonhard and linebacker Bart Scott to the New York Jets through free agency. Ryan becomes the latest head coach in New York.

Ryan joined the Ravens as a defensive line coach in 1999, earning a Super Bowl XXXV ring with the 2000 team. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2005.

Can Greg Mattison, the newly hired defensive coordinator, make the jump from college to NFL play? Most of us Steelers' fans have our doubts as to how well this replacement can be after fighting Ryan's defense twice a year.

The Ravens have acquired Tavares Gooden. Although Gooden has received the most publicity for filling the starting role of departed Bart Scott, Jameel McClain, the last season back-up to Scott, figures to be a key contributor. An undrafted rookie last year, McClain beat the odds and made the fifty-three-man roster as a special teams contributor. He played his way into spot pass rushing duty on defense, and ended up with two and a half sacks and two safeties.

One of the the Ravens' best pass rushers, Terrell Suggs has been  still absent from off-season workouts as the Ravens try to work out a long-term contract with him before the season begins. No doubt that Suggs will report to the team as soon as he has a new deal. How much second-round draft pick Paul Kruger can offer the rush?

Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata didn't attend any voluntary OTAs until last Wednesday. There might be a little rust on Ngata as he gets back into shape.

Baltimore started the 2008 season with Dawan Landry at safety opposite Ed Reed, not the little-known Leonhard. Landry took a crushing shot to the top of his helmet in Week Two and had to be removed from the field due to a spinal cord concussion. Landry missed the rest of the 2008-09 season.

Landry will be back in his starting position and playing with confidence. Landry's size and hitting ability lets him help against the run and take on tight ends in coverage, thus allowing Ed Reed to roam the field like a center fielder.

Aside from Domonique Foxworth, the Ravens  top cornerbacks have not been able to practice.

All in all, Greg Mattison's performance as he steps into the shoes of Ryan as the Ravens defensive coordinator will be under intense scrutiny throughout the season.

Should Ravens fans be worried? Can Mattison get the respect of his players like Rex Ryan had?

Our Steelers do not face the Ravens until late in the season -- November 29 and December 27. By then the AFC North title could be on the line.

Stay tuned as I track what happens with the Ravens in the build up to November.

As always, Here We Go!!!

Watch Ray Lewis in his cartoon debut.

by Ramona Dye

Trash-talking, big games, crushing hits, games with playoff implications -- all of these factors have helped in making Steelers-Ravens into one of the fiercest rivalries in the NFL.

Most times, team rivalries fuels fans. Yet, the rivalry between the Baltimore Ratbirds and Baltimore Ratbirds pushes the players to the extreme.

"The coaches hate each other, the players hate each other... There's no calling each other after the game and inviting each other out to dinner. But the feeling's mutual, they don't like us, and we don't like them. There's no need to hide it, they know it, and we know it. It's going to be one of those black and blue games." -- Steelers WR Hines Ward

The Beginning of a Rivalry

Art Modell moved his Cleveland Browns to Baltimore at the end of the 1995 season. This move caused legal action between the City of Cleveland and the NFL. This action resulted with the City of Cleveland retaining the Browns' name, colors, uniform design, franchise records, franchise history Browns club records and connections with Pro Football Hall of Fame players. Also, the City would get a new team regarded as the "reactivated" Cleveland Browns to begin play for the 1999 season.

Modell's Baltimore team, while retaining all current player contracts, would officially be the expansion team, a "new franchise" named the Baltimore Ravens.

Even with all of the changes our Steelers still remembered the Browns-Steelers rivalry. It was reason enough for the us Steeler fans to want to beat them. We still held a resentment towards Art Modell for ending Pittsburgh's greatest division rivalry. 

You could tell our Steelers and the Ravens did not like each other by the way in which most plays ended. The nasty bone crushing hits could have faded away but instead it has become more intense.

When Steelers management snubbed one-time Steelers Rod Woodson after he expressed interest in returning to the Steelers from the 49ers, Woodson signed with the Ravens. The 2009 Hall of Fame Enshrinee would go on to pick apart the Steelers front office claiming they allowed too many talented players to go to other teams instead of making any effort to keep them.

Our Steelers had missed the playoffs three years in a row while at the same time, the Ravens were building their own identity as a physical, hard hitting football team. Most of us could see that Ratbirds were trying to copy our success formula of the 1970's Steel Curtain defense. 

Our Steelers suffered a shutout loss to the Ravens with the opening game in the 2000 season. After the game, the Ravens' tight end Shannon Sharpe commented, "The Steelers have some real problems that they need to have addressed. That's probably the worst in my 11 years I've seen a Steelers team look. And I'm sure Bill Cowher is very disappointed, because they've got a lot of internal turmoil."

After the second game that season in which our Steelers won 9-6, passed the Ratbirds for second place in the AFC Central and ruined the Ravens streak of games without a touchdown to five, a seething Cowher had a request for the reporters, "Can you guys please go tell Shannon Sharpe that our problems here are fine? And I appreciate his concern after the first game about all the internal problems we had. Tell him we're fine. Thanks."

Our Steelers finished the season with a winning record, falling short of the playoffs. Yet, for the first time in a few years, they seemed to be getting back to Steelers football.

Lacking an offense, the Ratbirds rode on the backs of a defense that allowed the fewest points in NFL history for a 16-game season. Our rivals continued their dominance all the way to a win over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

2001: A Rivalry Grows

The championship talk created even more fuel for the rivalry. Was the Ravens defense the best ever, even better than our Steel Curtain defense of the 70's? And what would happen in the 2001 season?

When the Ravens came to Pittsburgh in November, the Steelers felt they had to prove something to the defending champions. Steelers players believed their defense was ever bit as good as the Ravens. This game was suppose to settle the score but our Steelers suffered a 13-10 loss.

After the game, linebacker Joey Porter stoked the rivalry more when he said, "They won the game, but they definitely know how good our defense is." 

Trash-talking from both side filled the week leading up to the 2001 rematch in Baltimore. The AFC Central title hung  in the balance that Sunday night and ESPN used every audio clip they could find to fuel this rematch.

The players continued to trash-talk, Our own Plaxico Burress proclaimed that the Steelers had "physically beat" the Ravens in the earlier game that season to which Shannon Sharpe replied, "If Hines Ward would have said that, as physical as he plays the game, OK, I could lend some credence to that. But 'Plexiglass? No."

There were rumors that the dirty Ratbirds had placed a bounty on our Steelers' top two receivers, pooling money to give as a reward to the defender who was able to knock out either Burress or Ward from the game. NFL policy forbids such cash rewards, though no proof materialized that the bounty was nothing more than talk .

Tony Siragusa, then the Ravens defensive tackle dared Steelers fans to follow him into a bathroom after the game, to which Steelers defensive back Lee Flowers responded, "We don't have no wimpy fans. Make sure his big butt shows up on the field Sunday."

The 2001 rematch game did not disappoint as the game turned into a hard-hitting physical battle with much trash-talking during the game. The game turning play happened when Kordell Stewart threw a 90-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Shaw after a Ravens punt had put our Steelers deep into our own territory.  

Our Steelers won the contest 26-21 to clinch the AFC Central division title. The win gave our Steelers our fifth consecutive win in Baltimore.

The win had our Steelers going to the playoffs for the first time since 1997 but our battle with the Ratbirds was far from over. The Ravens made it back to the wild card playoffs for the second time in two years. Baltimore linebacker Jamie Sharper had a warning specifically for the Steelers running back Jerome Bettis. "Everybody said they're the best team... We'll see. If the Bus is smart, he won't play."

Bettis did not play in the game due to a mishap of a painkiller shot into his leg which hit a nerve leaving his leg numb. But our Steelers defense prevailed, keeping the Ravens offense to under 150 yards and only 20 minutes of possession in the Ravens first playoff loss in their history. Sharpe admitted that at times the Steelers were a better team.

Although the 2001 season was over for both teams, the deep seeded rivalry had taken hold for good, among players and fans alike. It now seemed natural for the teams to remain rivals under the 2002 realignment into four-team divisions.

The Steelers-Ravens games have become synonymous with hard-hitting, physical, trash-talking football, to the point where NFL fans outside of the AFC North look forward to watching the games.

2008: Rivalry Review

In 2008, our Steelers and the Ravens boasted #1 and #2 defenses. Although our Steelers sometimes struggled to keep drives going, our Steelers defense looked to be Super Bowl-worthy, impressively outpacing the rest of the NFL in allowing the fewest yards per play. While the Ravens had found their franchise quarterback in Joe Flacco who made Baltimore, Super Bowl contenders again.

Only one of these two teams could possibly move on to the Super Bowl.

Our Steelers won both regular season games. The Ravens controlled much of the game at Heinz Field holding a 13-3 lead through the third quarter. Big Ben would thread a touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes on a third and long. Linebackers Lamar Woodley and James Harrison forced a fumble from Flacco that would be returned for a touchdown putting the Steelers ahead. Our Steelers would win the game with a Jeff Reed field goal in overtime.

During the Week 15 rematch at M&T Bank Stadium, the Ravens clung to a 9-6 lead with the Steelers four yards away from a winning touchdown. Our Steelers had driven from their own 8 yard line and now faced a third and goal with about 50 seconds left on the clock. Roethlisberger scrambled almost to the left sideline and then back to the middle before finding Santonio Holmes standing just inside the end zone. Holmes caught the ball but the Ravens defense forced him to lunge back onto the field of play as he caught the ball.

On the field, the officials ruled that Holmes had caught the ball just outside of the end zone, which would have set up a fourth and inches play with everything on the line. However, the replay booth official called for a review of the play. Referee Walt Coleman reversed the call, signaling a Steelers touchdown!

Ravens fans could not believe the call.  Later, the NFL would review the play and rule that it had been a correct call, that Holmes had possessed the ball inside of the end zone with about three inches. Those three inches clinched the AFC North title for our Steelers and forced the Ravens to win the remaining two games in order to make the playoffs as a wild card team. The Ravens ripped up their next four opponents, defeating the top-seeded Titans in their own stadium to advance to the AFC Championship.

Our Steelers and the Ravens were on yet another collision course for the biggest game in the history of their rivalry, the first all-AFC North AFC Conference championship.

"Us and the Ravens. It'd be a big game if it was only a scrimmage. It just happens to be the AFC Championship Game. -- Mike Tomlin, Steelers Head Coach

Our Steelers would go on to win the AFC Championship and send the Ratbirds back to Baltimore. A sweep in the regular season and beating them again in the playoffs to dash their dreams. Advancing to the 2009 Super Bowl our Steelers went on to win our sixth Lombardi.

Listed are a few of the highlights over the years.

• Steelers WR Plaxico Burress and Ravens CB James Trapp were ejected from a game in 2002 for fighting.
•  In 2003, the Steelers' Joey Porter, sidelined from Pittsburgh's season opener against the Ravens because of wounds he suffered in a random  shooting spree in Denver, angrily confronted the Ravens' Ray Lewis after the game because he believed Lewis was mocking Porter's sack celebration, "the Boot."
• Baltimore hosted Pittsburgh in the final regular-season game of the 2003 season, on the face of it a meaningless game because the Ravens had already clinched their playoff position and the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs. But the Ratbirds starters remained on the field for the entire game, a 13-10 overtime win for Baltimore. As he did with many times, Joey Porter voiced his opinion on Brian Billick's handling of the game: "A smart coach, you don't play your players that long in a regular-season game that has no meaning. And he played them all the way to the end in overtime, just to beat us. That lets you know how serious the rivalry is." The Ravens' win did mark the end of the Steelers' six-game winning streak in Baltimore, and the Steelers would not win at M&T Bank Stadium again for five years. At the same time, it likely improved the Steelers' draft position enough for them to select QB Ben Roethlisberger in the 2004 NFL draft.
• In 2004, the Ravens were the only team to beat the Steelers in their 15-1 regular season. 
• Joey Porter again drew the anger of the Ravens during a 2004 game when he pushed Baltimore TE Todd Heap to the ground after Heap had clearly been injured on the previous play.
• In three consecutive contests from 2004-2005, the Ravens knocked the Steelers starting quarterback out of the game.
• The Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger 14 times in   two routs of the Steelers by a combined score of 58-7 during the 2006 season, including a late-season win in Pittsburgh that killed the defending champion Steelers' chance to return to the playoffs.
• In 2007, the Steelers commemorated their 75th season in the NFL at a Monday night game against the Ravens that ended up being a 38-7 blowout. On a running play just before halftime, Hines Ward delivered a crushing block to Ed Reed that sent the Ravens cornerback to the ground in a heap. Ward began motioning for the trainers to come on the field while the play was still ongoing, and ESPN's cameras caught footage of QB Terry Bradshaw and other Pittsburgh legends on the sideline cringing at the force of Ward's block.
• When Steelers 2008 first-round draft pick Rashard   Mendenhall learned he would get his first start at RB against Baltimore on Monday Night Football, he sent a text message to his friend Ray Rice, a rookie running back for the Ravens, predicting that he would have "a big game." Rice shared the text with his teammates on the Ravens defense, who prided themselves in the fact that they had not allowed a 100-yard rusher in over 20 games. Quote LB Bart Scott, "Thanks for the bulletin-board material, rookie." In a contest that was injury-filled for both sides, Mendenhall was knocked out of the game with a fractured shoulder on a hit by Ray Lewis in the third  quarter; Mendenhall had gained 30 yards on the day. A few weeks later, Ravens LB Terrell Suggs invited controversy when he told a sports talk radio host that "the bounty was out on [Mendenhall] and the bounty was out on Hines. We just didn't get him between the whistles." Suggs later provided a clarification, saying "There wasn't any bounty." This not being his first  experience with the situation. Ward told ESPN that he considered the Ravens talk of a bounty on him "a big honor," but added that "all I have to say to Mr. Suggs is that there's an NFL policy he should read."

Steelers vs. Ravens: The all-time stats

• 18-10 overall
• 11-4 at Pittsburgh
• 7-6 at Baltimore
• 2-0 in playoffs

SWEEPS

Pittsburgh has 4 sweeps-

1997 (Pitt 42, Bal 34)        2002 (Pitt 31, Bal 18)

          (Pitt 37, Bal 00)                 (Pitt 34, Bal 31)

1998 (Pitt 20, Bal 13)        2008 (Pitt 23, Bal 20) OT

          (Pitt 16, Bal 13)                 (Pitt 13, Bal 09)

                                                      (Pitt 23, Bal 14)

Baltimore has 1          2006

                             (Bal 27, Pitt 00)

                             (Bal 31, Pitt 07)   

Longest Streak

Pittsburgh:

        1997                              2001              

( PIT 42, BAL 34)        (PIT 26, BAL 21)    

( PIT 37, BAL 20)        (PIT 27, BAL 10)         

        1998                             2002         

( PIT 20, BAL 13)        (PIT 31, BAL 18)

( PIT 16, BAL 13)        (PIT 34, BAL 31)             

        1999                             2003

(PIT 23, BAL 20)         (PIT 34, BAL 15)

Baltimore:

           2005

( BAL 16, PIT 13) OT

           2006

( BAL 27, PIT 0)

( BAL 31, PIT 7)

As Always, Here We Go!