In recent years the Ravens Steelers rivalry has crushed its way to the top of the list of the biggest rivalries in the NFL, with both teams slugging it out year after year for AFC North supremacy. Either the Ravens or the Steelers won the AFC North division the first seven years of its existence and between them have one a third of the Super Bowls of the 2000′s. “Each and every year we play Baltimore, it’s one of those games you circle. The Baltimore-Pittsburgh rivalry is really heated” says Hines Ward, Steelers wide receiver. It was recently named the biggest rivalry in the NFL in the Sporting News article Ravens-Steelers moves to top of NFL rivalries.

Both teams in the rivalry play football in the AFC North Division and the winner of the matchup regularly decides the top team in the division and who makes it to the NFL post-season. Both the Steelers and the Ravens are known for being aggressive and physical teams, and they posses two of the best defenses in the NFL. They also use their size and physicality to produce some of the most effective running games in the league. The largest margin of victory belongs to Pittsburgh, when they beat the Ravens and stunning 37–0 on November 9, 1997.

This football rivalry goes back further than the move to Baltimore. These teams hated each other back when the Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The Baltimore Ravens marked the return of NFL football to Baltimore, which happened in 1996. There had been no pro-football in the city since the former Baltimore Colts became the Indianapolis Colts. Ironically, the franchise that became the Ravens was actually the relocated Cleveland Browns, previously the Colts’ nemesis. So heated is the rivalry that Ravens back Terrell Suggs put out a hit on Steelers wide receiver Heins Ward.

The first meeting between the Steelers and Ravens took place on September 8, 1996, and the game went to the Steelers 31-17 in Pittsburgh. But the scores were reversed in their second meeting of that season. Ever since then there has been some real animosity between the two. “The coaches hate each other, the players hate each other… There’s no calling each other after the game and inviting each other out to dinner. But the feeling’s mutual: They don’t like us, and we don’t like them. There’s no need to hide it, they know it, and we know it,” says Ward.

In the early part of Ravens history, the team added former Steeler and Pro Bowler Rod Woodson who had been an integral part of the Steelers of the early 1990′s. Woodson was slighted by Steeler’s Director of Operations Tom Donahoe, who dismissed the Steelers brining back Woodson saying “We’re not the Salvation Army.” Woodson then signed with the Ravens, changed from cornerback to safety and went on to play four seasons and go back to the Pro-Bowl. You can bet that he got up for any and all Ravens Steelers games. At the time the Steelers gained a reputation for letting talented player go rather than paying them what they were worth. This trend included coaching personnel, including Marvin Lewis, who left the Steelers to become Brian Billick‘s defensive coordinator.

The Ravens Steelers rivalry took on a more heated tone begins in the 2000 season, when trash talking’ elevated to new levels. The Ravens came out swinging that season and gave the Steelers their first shutout at Three Rivers Stadium since 1989. Raven Shannon Sharpe took this opportunity to talk some smack, saying “The Steelers have some real problems that they need to have addressed. That’s probably the worst in my 11 years I’ve seen a Steelers team look. And I’m sure Bill Cowher is very disappointed, because they’ve got a lot of internal turmoil.”

But Cowher got his chance for revenge in the rematch later that year in a game the Steelers won 9-6 and took over second place in the division. After the game, which also marked the fifth consecutive game the Ravens did not score a touchdown, Cower requested reporters to “please go tell Shannon Sharpe that our problems here are fine? And I appreciate his concern after the first game about all the internal problems we had. Tell him we’re fine. Thanks.”

Even with their difficulty scoring games, the Ravens defense was one of the best ever assembled, allowing the fewest number of touchdowns ever in a 16-game season. This incredible defense led the Ravens into the playoffs and all the way to Super Bowl XXXV, which saw them beat the Giants. Ray Lewis was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXV.

You bet that the memories of the previous season were still fresh in the minds of player son both sides. During their first meeting of 2001 during an on field altercation James Trapp jumped on wide out Plaxico Burress with both feet and proceeded to tear off his helmet. Both players were tossed, Burress for not wearing a helmet… Want nasty? Check out Ravens-Steelers.

Burress later questioned the toughness of the Ravens and put his teams physicality a notch or two above that of the Steelers. Ray Lewis took it personally, saying “It kind of ticks you off. You want to just play football, but these guys want to trash talk. You talk about what Plaxico Burress said, you talk about what Jerome Bettis said, man, that’s garbage. . . I’ve always said you don’t have to respect me, but don’t ever disrespect me . . . For those guys to say what they’re saying now, it’s ignorant. They have a good defense this year. I’m not even going to say great. But we’ve been there, we’ve done this before. There’s no person on this defense, first team or second team, that I would trade for any one of their starters.” The Steelers won the second game of the 2001 to take the division, however the Ravens made it to the playoffs with the wildcard spot.

In 2006 the Ravens not only won both of their meetings with the Steelers but also sacked Ben Roethlisberger 16 times. All these close games led Sports Illustrated to name it one of the NFL’s greatest new rivalries.
“If you have a chance to rub a guy’s face in the dirt on a tackle, you do. If you can put a knee in a guy’s back to help yourself get up, you do it,” says Steelers radio broadcaster and former player Tunch Ilkin.

One of the nastier aspects of the Steeler Ravens rivalry came in the last regular season game of the 2008 season. As Steeler punter and place holder Mitch Berger was about to voice his opinion on Frank Walker’s hit on the kicker, Walker spit on Berger. “I kept spitting for 24 hours,” Beger told ESPN. “I kept brushing my teeth. To have another man spit in your mouth like that — it was gross.”

During the 2008 season, after Suggs has claimed bounties on Heines Ward and Rookie Rashard Mendenhall, Ray Lewis delivered a crushing blow that saw Mendenhall sit out the rest of the season due to an injured shoulder. “You hate to admit this, but any time you have a great rivalry, it’s with teams who have similar types of guys,” said Justin Bannan, who joined the Ravens as Baltimore defensive tackle in 2006. “These are two teams full of tough guys who never back down or take crap from anybody.” The 2008 season marked the most even the teams have been, although the Steelers won the two regular season games as well as the crucial meeting in the 2008 AFC Championship Game.

With passion like this on both sides of the field its always special when the Steelers and Ravens meet on the field. This year the rivalry looks like its back with a vengeance, and both teams definitely want to show they are the best in the game. These proud franchises look like they will be good for the foreseeable future, and you can bet fans on both sides will have plenty to argue about.