also, I know some of your backs are banged up. What are the status of those guys?

I expect the Ravens to go with Le’Ron McClain, as his size is probably the best way to attack your deense. Ry Rice s a little banged up, as is McGahee. Willis was not effective in the Redskins game but I expect him to be okay. No matter what and who carries the rock for either team, they’re not getting much though.

I am VERY nervous

I think talent wise these teams match up very well. I think in any given week they are the two best defenses in the league. What bugs me is the the Steelers are still sputtering on offense. I actually think we have a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball – but unfortunately for us its loaded at the “skill” positions. Our offensive line remains a work in progress that really hasn’t won the physical battles it needs to win for us to be a bruising football team. I think its no surprise considering that our most veteran guy on the line is Justin Hartwig and Max Starks is the highest draft pick on the line having been taken late in the 3rd round. The rest of the guys are both young and inexperienced – Chris Kemoeatu is in his first year as a starter – he was a 6th round pick. Darnell Stapelton had never really played even as a back up, he was undrafted and is only two years out of college. Willie Colon was taken in the fourth round. He is traded time last year with Max Starks.

At the beginning of the season we had two physical, experienced high draft picks on the line – both of whom are done for the season with injuries. I think its made a big difference in our ability to dominate a game mentally and physically at the line of scrimmage. Having said that, I have to give credit to the guys who are in there for gelling and playing hard.

Which brings me to my question, I am curious to hear a bit about how your O-line has played this year – and how your young guys are coming along. How has Willie Anderson been holding up at RT?

….this is a classic matchup that you win in Pittsburgh and we win in Baltimore. That’s how close we are and I wouldn’t be surprised if we meet again in the AFC Championship!

is a warrior and being from the U. makes him one of Ray’s boys. If anyone can motivate him to regroup and get his shit together, it’s Ray. I personally think he is a very good back and we will need him to make this final run.

the Ravens even have four wideouts? They spread out with TE Todd Heap splitting out and even use the Wildcat successfully with Troy Smith at QB, which is better suited for him than even Ronnie Brown in Miami, as Smith has the passing arm to go with the running.

was originally a big concern. However, Fabian Washington has proven to be the biggest pickup of the off season. Samari Rolle has returned to his old self and the nickel backs have done fine. With the pass rush we have and Ed Reed back there, our secondary is just fine.

but I would say the toughest part for him right now is reading zones. He hasn’t seen a whole lot of zone defenses and it showed in the game against the Redskins, as they ran almost exclusively a zone pass def. He’s relatively good at reading the blitz and hitting his hot route if he needs to. As far as his tendencies… I think he’s actually getting out of some bad tendencies that he was in earlier in the season. Look at the 2 (should have been three, but one was called back after review) ints he threw against TEN. On both of them he was forced out of the pocket and made a poor decision to try to force something rather than just throwing it away. At this point in the season he has become much better at realizing its better to play another down than try to make something happen right away. Again, as witnessed by his 3 ints. in the last 8 games (one of which was his receivers fault).

Pressure him all day and see how he handles it. Give him time and he’ll make the throws. Force him to run and he might make a mistake. Let him sit back there and you will see he progress he’s made and you will not be happy with the results.

is still the best MLB in football and in my opinion the best to ever don the pads. There is no underestimating his effect on the rest of the team as a leader, motivator and coach on the field. He is a free agent after this year but Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti has said he’ll doing whatever it takes to have Ray retire a Ravens. Not worried one bit.

The Ravens and Ray agreed on a contract extetion. Its a 5 year 25 or 28 million deal that will keep him in Baltimore for the rest of his career. He didn’t sign it yet because the deadline had passed but he will be re-signed at the end of the season. It’s a great move on both parts. The Ravens probly save money because Ray probly wont play 5 more years and the contract is backloaded. Ray gets a chance to retire with the team that drafted him and recieves his final big contract.

because wasn’t convicted of anything but obstruction of justice and Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner sentenced Lewis to 12 months’ probation, the maximum sentence for a first-time offender.

What a lame comment. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s not like he as caught with pot or anything (Holmes). That is an unfair comment and he is a wonderful generous citizen of the city. Furthermore, so many players on all teams look to Ray as a mentor and keep in contact with him all year. He is also the unofficial king of the U. of Miami grads who all work out w/ him in the offseason.

so that put DT Justin Bannan as a starter and he has been lights out. The Ravens used a bunch of other reserves as well who have just performed great. It’s not hard to contribute to a defense when the offense is concentrating on Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata. Our defensive schemes, especially on third downs is so impressive. Next time, watch the movement after the offense sets to see where these guys are lining up. Rex Ryan is a defensive genius and Ray Lewis and the rest watch so much tape that they know what’s coming almost all the time.

Want to beat us? Use your tight end over the middle on slants underneath that our LB’s can’t cover. Same with RB’s out of the backfield. Just look out for the crossing hit by Ray!

Seriously, I’m so happy for dallas week to be over just so we stop hearing from them.

The threat exists… and it IS real.

this year compared to last, when I think we had only three! Flacco has a great touch on the long ball and a cannon for the intermediate ones. Mason is the possession receiver, Clayton the deep threat and Heap the crossing target. Ray Rice does great on the screen as he is deceptively fast and strong.

Cmac lost a step, simple as that… Hes still a great corner against some of the slower receivers but he can’t hang with the likes of Marvin Harrison, Holmes, a Steve Smith type… He doesnt have the speed for it anymore. The man has some of the best hands of any corner, and a great eye/nose/whatever for the ball in terms of breaking up a pass. But he’ll get beat on the deep ball almost any time now a days…

Fabian on the other hand, while obviously not having the hands of Cmac as shown by a few of his drops, definitely has the speed thing down. I’m not sure if you saw the highlights I believe it was the Giants game where he ran down one of there backs who had a full head of steam and caught him on like the 3. Mind you Samari Rolle was right behind the back like half the way but couldnt catch him, where as Fabian wasn’t and came out of nowhere to get the job done.

So, I believe Fabian has become an okay replacement and given another year in the Ravens system will be the next Cmac, he’s just got to get his hands up, I don’t want to see him dropping anymore picks. I dont think he has blown too many, if any big plays since he’s started playing number 1/number 2 (now that Rolle is back)

So in conclusion to answer your question, He’s not an upgrade, but he is a worthy replacement. And I wouldnt try that deep ball on him, he’s not the type that gets beat on the long ball.

for both teams. However, because I think the Ravens o-line is better than Pittsburgh’s, I expect the three headed running attack to be more successful than Pittsburgh’s. That said, more successful might end up being 50 yards total vs. 35 for you guys. Either way, both teams are going to have to wing the ball downfield. The one who makes the most plays with the least turnovers wins. Very simple.

Mark Clayton has come out of the shadows with some greeat catches and long TD receptions. Todd Heap was invisible for most of the season but has shown up lately. Mason is still Flacco’s go-to guy, but Flacco has spread the wealth around real well.

So I cant answer your first question (I live in FL now)

Though I do have many memories of Browns fans being attacked and badgered… Oh the Good Ol’ Days…. {…has a flashback…}

Just make sure you go with other Steeler fans and I think you’ll be fine. It’s unfortunate that people even have to worry about the opposing teams fans and getting hurt physically. But hey, that’s just the way they are.

Steelers fans travel well and there will be a bunch of terrible towels waving throughout the stadium. However, for some reason your fans are loud and rude and a lot get drunk and kicked out early. Be proud but don’t stand and turnaround and gloat over every play like an idiot. Cheer and have fun and we’ll treat you better than Philly fans will!

Heckled and verbally harassed, but dont expect to have beers thrown at you or your jersey ripped off your back. Enjoy the game and cheer on your team all you want, but I wouldnt turn around after a big play by Pitt and start doing a the river dance and screaming that we wear purple jerseys. Then you might get murdered. But do expect a lot of middle fingers and fuck yous to be thrown your way.

If I remember the last game against the ravens, we were constantly losing field position on traded punts.

Definitely on the eagles game where their punter was basically kicking like a placekicker, and we paddycaked punts back to them.

The man has constantly pinned opposing offenses within the 20, sometimes ever the 10. He has a hugeeeeeeee leg and has kicked some balls over 60 yards this season, even had a 70 yarder or 2! I think he deserves a Pro Bowl spot. But he is on the Ravens and we dont get enough coverage. I mean the Redskins have 20 pro bowl candidates, cause they are that good of football team, right???

Harbaugh has this team disciplined unlike any Ravens team before. It took the first half of the season to get there as evidenced by our first game vs the Steelers, but the team has come along way since then. The players finally understand those penalties are unacceptable, and killing us in close games, and they will be disciplined if they ever forget it.

Football Outsiders gave you guys a ton of credit preseason and that has continued throughout the season. I think you guys are only a hare behind the Giants in their scoring, and they give your defense a better score than ours. They’re not always right, but they tend to be right. I’m scared because our teams are very similar, but you guys have an OC that’s like 20 times better than ours and an offense that is less inclined to implosion.

the testosterone flowing through the keyboards of us all

- because nothing says “manly” like hurling insults at people you’ll never meet. Anyways, you guys aren’t half as bad as the freakin Cowboys fans that came over last week.

Thanks for being part of the discussion.

It is really weird seeing Steelers fans say they are worried of this game. Cause I am 100% sure you guys were not worried about Matt Cassel and Tony Romo, as they have been shaky all year.

It’s relatively easy for us to be confident when faced with strong offenses. We have a marvelous defense and too few people understand what an advantage that is. So, not only does our D give us a bedrock foundation, it also has the feel of a secret weapon. People don’t get it. For example: I had to explain it to my friends (Pats fans) by saying the 2008 Pittsburgh D is as good as the 2007 Pats O. Of course, none of them could accept such a comparison until we started running down some numbers. After that discussion, they gave us grudging respect. After our game, they got religion. That sort of conversion gives a fan some swagger.

So, why do we fear the Ravens? Cuz the Ravens aren’t bringing a high-powered offense. They’re packin’ a defense that is very comparable with our own. We, more than anyone else, understand what that means. You’ll note we’re not seriously worried about Flacco. We’re worried about Ed Reed and Ray Ray.

I suspect others are giving the Ravens minimal attention because a) your strongest asset (defense) lives in the shadow of the Steelers; b) you’ve been beaten by the Steelers; and c) you had a couple of bad beats. It’s a perception thing, not a reality. If you win on Sunday, both A & B will evaporate and suddenly sportscasters will be saying, “I knew the Ravens were going to be a force,” or “I knew the Steelers couldn’t make it through the entire season.”

Of course, if the game goes in Pittsburgh’s favor…

Depends on when they restructure the AFC north.

Don’t mistake this question as meaning that the Steelers and Ravens are on level ground atop the AFC North. That being said, I’ll take 2028 in the poll. . .anyone else?

a battle that Pit wins most of the time.

It’s the Tim Duncan Foul Look

When they ask him questions, he does this…….

Ripley will be there for sure.

Cause he cant do it on command. His eyes react to the names of Ravens players. They just pop out at the spur of the moment

What do you think of…………..Ray Lewis POP!

Maybe one of the all time greats against the other 30 teams, but Ray’s biggest moment against the Steelers is when he shot Joey Porter. In the first game of this season they showed his all-time stats against the Steelers. Anyone remember? Something like 20 games, a handful of sacks and a pick. Not eye-popping to Tomling or anyone.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Yea, I went there!

Hines breaks Flacco’s goofy face.

Don’t know how they are gonna be on the field at the same time but it will happen!

It’d be like Zeus fist fighting Jupiter!

..what is a “rec?”