Yes it’s Steelers week as the Baltimore Ravens enter week two of the young NFL season and trying to avoid starting out 0-2 in the AFC North division.
Both the Ravens and Pittsburgh will take to the field on a short week and with all the happenings around the Castle in Owings Mills this week, they’re focus needs to be on Thursday night.
The offense certainly can’t afford another slow start and the defense can’t succumb to the big plays late in the game as both sides on the football like they did against the Bengals last week.
Veteran linebacker Terrell Suggs and the rest of the Ravens pass rush need to surface against Ben Roethlisberger something in which they failed to do against Dalton.
Luckily for Suggs and the Ravens, the former Defensive Player of the Year has success against the tough signal caller, and is focused.
“It’s everything. It’s everything. You don’t want to come out of an 0-2 hole, especially giving up two at home. Wins in the NFL are hard to come by, so that’s why you’ve got to win your home games,” Suggs said at the podium following practice on Tuesday.
“We unfortunately dropped one; [the Bengals] cashed in and they won one, a division game. We’ve definitely got to cover up some ground, but it all starts with this one come Thursday.”
Suggs’s 16.5 career sacks on Roethlisberger (including playoffs), are the most any NFL defender has dropped the disdained quarterback. In fact, Suggs has totaled 19.5 sacks vs. Pittsburgh during his 12-year career (23 total games).
Simply stated, Suggs loves playing Ben and the Steelers.
“We both like to compete against each other. Like I said, there is a respect thing there. The guy has played in the Super Bowl three times and won two of them. We like to compete against each other” Suggs stated about his games against Pittsburgh.
“I like that, the competitive [nature]. But, I have to say their coach and their offensive line coach are doing a great job of tending to me, whether they’re chipping guys, sliding guys.
“They never really do the old Ravens-Steelers [way] where they just smash-mouth our 11 versus your 11, but that’s fine. They want to go with the spread, and everybody wants to see touchdowns and screens and the circus, I like to call it. We’re going to prepare for all of that and approach it so.”
Dressed in his new T-shirt that featured the infamous play when Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stepped onto the field interrupting Jacoby Jones’s kick return with the words “We Will Never Forget”, Suggs is all about the rivalry and all about getting back to business on the football field.
“What’s my favorite thing about the Steelers rivalry? Just everything that goes into it, as you can clearly see. (Motions to t-shirt he’s wearing.) I love this rivalry,” Suggs stated.
“I think it’s the best rivalry in football. Thursday can’t get here fast enough. I think they’re going to be excited, and we’re definitely going to be excited and motivated and ready to play.”
Let’s hope he translates his excitement to the field under the lights in primetime as the nation will no doubt be rooting against them all.
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