PITTSBURGH — The mood was light Tuesday afternoon inside the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room. Players gathered around the pool table and the ping pong table, taking turns wielding pool cues and paddles as a way to wind down after practice. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin surveyed the scene at one point with a grin on his face, perhaps suggesting that he didn't mind seeing his players lighthearted and loose during the week of the AFC Divisional Playoffs.
But to a man, when asked to share their feelings about the Baltimore Ravens, the mood turned serious.
"It's definitely a heated rivalry," said Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley. "We bring out their best, and they bring out our best. It's the kind of game where you know you better be ready to play, because you're going to get hurt if you're not ready."
Yes, there is respect in the Pittsburgh locker room for Baltimore. But what makes this rivalry arguably the best in the NFL is many of the players on both sides make no attempt to hide their contempt for the other team. It's a sort of a throwback to an earlier era when players didn't all share agents and publicists and schmooze at the Pro Bowl. Terrell Suggs has already called the game Armageddon, and depicted it as a match-up between good vs. evil. Which side is which, Suggs said, depends on your perspective.
"I guess from [the Steelers] point of view that I am definitely evil," Suggs said. "This is a great game. I love this game and I am sure they do, too."
In Pittsburgh, Hines Ward doesn't mind returning the sentiment.
"As much as they hate me, I hate them [just as much]," Ward said. "I definitely respect them. And when I'm long gone, I can say that I played some Hall of Famers up in Baltimore like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. But I can't stand some of them. I can't stand seeing Suggs celebrate. At the end of the day, you respect them, but every time I see a [Ravens] game plan, I get a big smile on my face because I can't wait to get on the field and compete."
Tomlin, much like John Harbaugh whenever he's asked about the Steelers, has tried to be nothing but complimentary when talking about the Ravens. The teams, he conceded, are more alike then they'd like to admit.
"We're familiar with them, and they're familiar with us," Tomlin said. "Of course we're excited to play them as always."
But beneath that respect is a bit of an edge too, at least for the players. Just ask Steelers linebacker James Harrison.
"I believe there is a respect there, but you can still hate a guy and respect him," Harrison said. "I respect everyone on the football field. But some people I don't like. And some people I dislike even more."
Harrison has a unique perspective when it comes to both organizations considering he's the only player on either squad who can say, at least technically, he's seen the inside of both organizations. But Harrison still bristles at any suggestion he was ever really a Raven. Baltimore signed him as a free agent in 2003 with plans to send him to NFL Europe, but cut him shortly after.
"Everyone has this misconception that I was there for awhile," Harrison said. "I was there for eight days. That's it. I don't look at anything like it's an accident. This is the situation I'm suppose to be in. Obviously it's a better situation."
Harrison hasn't exactly had warm feelings toward the Ravens ever since, and some of that animosity has continued throughout this season. After the Steelers 13-10 victory in Baltimore on Dec. 5, Harrison accused Ravens lineman Chris Chester of trying to intentionally injury him by false starting on an extra point. Harrison called the play "dirty" and "cheap," an accusation denied by the Ravens.
It also didn't sit too well with some people in Pittsburgh when they heard, mostly second hand, Harbaugh say he was glad the Ravens broke Ben Roethlisberger's nose the last time the two teams met. Harbaugh told the Pittsburgh media Tuesday he felt it was obvious his comment was made in jest, and actually was an attempt to praise Roethlisberger.
"It was in response to a humorous question and I was laughing," Harbaugh said. "It was tongue in cheek. It was fun. I took the opportunity to praise him for how tough he is. I go back a long way with him. I've known him since he was a sophomore in college. I have tremendous respect for him. He knows we try to be physical; Pittsburgh plays physical and that's the way we want to play. But it was tongue in cheek."
Roethlisberger said he took no offense to Harbaugh's comments, and that they've always been on good terms.
"Coach Harbaugh and I have a pretty good relationship," Roethlisberger said. "I always talk to him before the game, just kind of a hello. He's a Miami (Ohio) guy, so I don't think that he really meant anything malicious by it."
Still, Suggs was asked during his conference call with the Pittsburgh media if the Ravens defense would try and break Roethlisberger's nose again.
"We don't want anybody getting hurt," Suggs said. "We just want everybody to have an injury-free game. I am not going to say I wish him success or anything or to have a good game or nothing like that. But we don't want to see anyone get hurt."
There is no question, though, that the game will be physical. All those emotions do play a role in how hard these two teams play against one another, especially with so much at stake.
"The team that wins this game is going to be the most violent team, the team that is most physical," said Steelers nose tackle Chris Hoke. "This is the team that goes out there to push the other team around. That is who wins. When we play the Ravens, it is whoever can be the most physical team is the team that wins."
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