For everyone who grew up watching football in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens were must-see TV. Not just for the razor-thin outcomes but the brutality of the game. As the oldheads would say, “when football was football.” Games where receivers like Hines Ward turned into linebackers.
While the stakes are just as high this time around, the way the game will be played is a little different than a decade ago.
“I used to watch Hines Ward all the time,” WR George Pickens said via the team’s Twitter account of Steelers-Ravens games of yesteryear. “We can’t do some of the stuff Ward used to do now, but I used to watch him all the time.”
New NFL rules to promote player safety have taken some of the teeth out of games like these. Many changes were due to Ward and the Steelers. Bone-crushing crackback blocks are outlawed thanks to Ward breaking LB Keith Rivers’ jaw while the NFL dialed in defenseless-player rules after James Harrison turned the Cleveland Browns into an infirmary.
One of Ward’s biggest moments in the Steelers-Ravens rivalry didn’t come on a catch. In Pittsburgh’s 2007 blowout win, Ward de-cleated FS Ed Reed on a block, sending him woozy and off the field.
Reed, to his credit, could dish hits out himself and the Steelers as a team have been on the wrong side of many of them. Ray Lewis broke Rashard Mendenhall’s shoulder. Ben Roethlisberger’s biggest hit came from Bart Scott. The stories – and scars – live on.
The modern-day player has to adjust to the NFL’s changes. But both sides have to bring their A-game, and the softer team is often the loser of these battles. Even putting aside the division being on the line, from players to fans, this one is personal.
“The automatic hatred, just from fan to fan base is kind of already crazy,” Pickens said. “And then with us players, just the hard-fought game. So just trying to get the dub is really what we’re focused on.”
Even with a Week 16 rematch looming, a win against Baltimore just means more. But in the standings, it means a lot. A victory would give Pittsburgh firm control over the AFC North and the chance to sweep Baltimore for the second-straight season.
