BALTIMORE – Inside the Baltimore Ravens’ locker room, Ray Rice dabbed at the blood seeping from a small cut on his neck.
"I’m not going to say the word physical anymore because look at the scar on my neck," Rice said with a smile. "That’s part of the war wounds."
It was the revamped Ravens who inflicted the punishment, though, during a 35-7 trouncing of the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday before 71,734 at M&T Bank Stadium, exacting a measure of revenge after being kicked out of the playoffs twice in the past three years by their AFC North arch-rivals.
It also sent a strong message to the rest of the NFL.
Rice and a reworked offensive line pounded the ball down the Steelers’ throats as he gained 107 yards and scored a touchdown, also catching one touchdown out of the backfield. The Ravens bullied the NFL’s top-ranked run defense from a year ago, gaining 170 yards on the ground.
Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata regularly busted through the line of scrimmage, causing a fumble and deflecting a pass for a Ray Lewis interception to lead a relentless defense that set a franchise record by forcing seven turnovers. They intercepted Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger three times, including a pair by star free safety Ed Reed.
"It was domination," said outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, who sacked Roethlisberger three times. "It was a great day for the city of Baltimore."
And quarterback Joe Flacco delivered three touchdown passes with no interceptions, outdueling Roethlisberger for his first career victory against him.
This marks the Ravens’ most lopsided margin of victory over the Steelers in franchise history.
"It’s a great victory, the whole thing about ghosts, demons, monkeys on your back, that’s not real to us," coach John Harbaugh said. "This is a new football team. This is the 2011 Baltimore Ravens. This is who we are, and now we’re going to find out what this football is going to be about going forward."
After having their season abruptly halted in January by Pittsburgh when they squandered a 21-7 halftime lead by committing three turnovers, the Ravens didn’t relax their grip on the Steelers’ throats this time.
In the third quarter Sunday, the Ravens expanded their lead with three turnovers that transformed the two-touchdown lead into an insurmountable margin.
"Now, the playoff taste is through," Rice said. "We’ve got that burden off our shoulders. We’re one up on them right now, and that’s how we’ve got to approach this. It’s always a slugfest with them, and lord knows what’s going to happen later in the year."
Rice set the tone on the Ravens’ first play from scrimmage, bolting into the secondary behind crushing blocks from new left tackle Bryant McKinnie.
McKinnie slammed his 6-foot-8, 360-pound body into outside linebacker James Harrison before peeling off downfield to wall off middle linebacker James Farrior.
"We wanted to establish the run behind Bryant McKinnie," Rice said. "Harrison went inside, I stayed on my course and I followed the big man. Once I get into the secondary, it’s all on me."
Added offensive coordinator Cam Cameron: "It doesn’t hurt to give a guy a chance to tee off on somebody the first play of the game."
The 36-yard run set up Flacco’s perfect spiral to Anquan Boldin two plays later for a 27-yard touchdown pass.
Flacco’s accuracy was pinpoint, completing 17 of 29 throws for 224 yards and a 117.6 passer rating.
"It definitely gets you going, you’re ready to go right out of the gates," Flacco said. "When you go down there on the first drive the way we did, it definitely boosts your confidence even that much more to continue to do it."
Derided by Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley and other NFL players during the offseason, Flacco played like he was issuing a convincing rebuttal.
As far as Cameron is concerned, Flacco had nothing to prove despite a 2-6 record in his previous starts against the Steelers.
"Joe knows the heat comes with the territory, but he’s played pretty darn good in a lot of those games," Cameron said. "Everybody hammers it and they won’t let up on a guy. That’s just the world we live in today, everybody picks every quarterback apart, especially when you’re facing a team that he’s lost to a few times.
"He’s the real deal. If you think your guy is fragile and needs a psychological victory, he’s probably the wrong guy. That’s why most guys can’t do what Joe has done, win this many games this quickly. I always knew he was made of the right stuff. Joe is pretty special."
The Ravens capitalized on a short field provided by Sugss’ sack and forced fumble for their second touchdown. On that second scoring drive, Flacco hit tight end Dennis Pitta for a 29-yard pass. Three plays later, Rice scored on a one-yard touchdown behind right tackle Michael Oher’s block.
"We got beat into submission," Farrior said.
Flacco connected with Rice for an 11-yard score behind linebacker Lawrence Timmons in the second quarter. Flacco wasn’t exactly breaking out the champagne afterward, though.
"That was a huge win for us against Pittsburgh," Flacco said. "But without us playing great in these next 15 games, it’s not going to mean anything."
Mere seconds into the second half after Ngata separated the ball from running back Rashard Mendenhall with a devastating tackle, Flacco had the Ravens up 29-7.
He found tight end Ed Dickson by himself in the end zone after he faked out star Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. After Dickson’s touchdown, punter Sam Koch ran it in for the two-point conversion on the extra point attempt.
"We got our tails whipped," Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said.
"We got beat up all over the field," Polamalu said. "The truth of it is, we got our butts kicked. It’s incredibly humbling, which obviously we needed at this point. It’ll be interesting to see how we persevere."
Following an interception by Reed, the Ravens went up 32-7 to close out the third quarter.
Ngata was everywhere, constantly collapsing the protective pocket around Roethlisberger.
"This is definitely the game I wanted to have," said Ngata, the Ravens’ $12.5 million franchise player. "I just want to keep getting better and better. I just want to keep making more and more plays."
It was nothing like their playoff loss when their epic meltdown sealed their fate.
With 20 new players, this is an entirely different outfit in Baltimore. Lewis pointed that out during a rousing halftime speech.
"Everybody was saying, ‘We’ve been here before,’ and I was like, ‘We haven’t been here before, because 2011 is a whole new year,’" Lewis said. "If you understand it that way, then you understand that this is a new team."
This marked the Ravens’ first regular-season outing since cutting wide receiver Derrick Mason, tight end Todd Heap and nose guard Kelly Gregg.
And this was the debut of the Ravens’ reconfigured offensive line and a secondary with three new starters in strong safety Tom Zbikowski and cornerbacks Cary Williams and Lardarius Webb.
It all seemed to mesh together better than perhaps even the Ravens had envisioned.
"This is a game we’ve been waiting for since last season," said Boldin, who caught four passes for 74 yards, including his touchdown catch to open the Ravens’ scoring in the first quarter. "We left last season with a bitter taste in our mouths, and that was a motivation for us. You still have to give them credit. They’re the AFC North champions until we dethrone them."
