Steelers Vs. Ravens

[el loco]

vs.
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2009
KICKOFF IS AT 6:30 P.M.
HEINZ FIELD



Game Information:
Pittsburgh Steelers (13-4) vs. Baltimore Ravens (13-5)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 18, 2008
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. (ET)
Site: Heinz Field (65,050) • Pittsburgh, Pa.
Playing Surface: Grass/DD Grassmaster
TV Coverage: CBS (locally KDKA-TV, Channel 2)
Announcers: Jim Nantz (play-by-play) Phil Simms (color analyst)
Local Radio: Steelers Radio Network WDVE-FM (102.5)/WBGG-AM (970)
Announcers: Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play) Tunch Ilkin (color analyst) Craig Wolfley (sideline)
National Radio: Westwood One Radio
Announcers: Dave Sims (play-by-play) Dennis Green (color) John Dockery (sideline)

A Look at the Coaches
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin

Overall Regular-season Record: 22-10 (.688)/second season
Regular-season Record at Pittsburgh: 22-10 (.688)/second season
Playoff Record/Years: 1-1/second year

Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh

Overall Regular-season Record: 11-5 (.688)/first season
Regular-season Record at Baltimore: 11-5 (.688)/first season
Playoff Record/Years: 2-0/first year

Series History
Series History: Series began in 1996
Overall: Pittsburgh leads 16-10
At Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh leads 9-4
At Baltimore: Pittsburgh leads 7-6
Neutral Sites: n/a
Last Regular-Season Meeting: Dec. 14, 2008 (in Baltimore) Pittsburgh 13, Baltimore 9
Postseason Series: Pittsburgh leads 1-0
(postseason record not included in overall series record)
The Steelers own a 1-0 record against the Ravens in the postseason...Pittsburgh owns a 16-10 record all-time against the Baltimore Ravens in the regular season, including a 9-4 mark at home and a 7-6 record on the road...the Steelers had lost five straight at Baltimore prior to their 13-9 victory on Dec. 14 of this past year...the Steelers defeated the Ravens at home earlier this year, 23-20, in overtime...the Steelers swept the season series for the fourth time after also winning the home and away contests in 1997, 1998 and 2002...the Ravens swept the 2006 season series, marking the first time Pittsburgh had been swept in the series...the Steelers have won six of their past seven at home against the Ravens and are 7-2 all-time in the series at Heinz Field (opened in 2001)...Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 16 games overall in the series, including a 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff victory at Heinz Field (Jan. 20, 2002).

Steelers’ Postseason History vs. Baltimore Ravens:• The Steelers will face the Baltimore Ravens in the postseason for the second time in team history with the Steelers winning the only matchup in the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff game. Pittsburgh defeated the Ravens, 27-10, in the first playoff game ever at Heinz Field.
• The Steelers are 7-0 overall against division foes in the postseason, including 1-0 against Baltimore, 1-0 against Cincinnati, 2-0 versus Cleveland and 3-0 against the Houston Oilers (AFC Central).
• This marks the first matchup between the teams in an AFC Championship Game.
• Following is a look at 2001 AFC Divisional Game against the Baltimore Ravens in the series history:
1/20/02 Baltimore Ravens W, 27-10 AFC Divisional Playoff.

Steelers-Ravens Connections
Steelers-Ravens Connections: Several Steelers have ties to the Ravens and the Baltimore area. Steelers with direct ties to the Ravens and Baltimore/Maryland include LB James Harrison, who signed with the Ravens after the 2003 NFL season and was allocated by Baltimore to the NFL Europe League in 2004. QB Byron Leftwich grew up in Washington, D.C.

Ravens with ties to the Steelers or Western Pa. include QB Joe Flacco, who started his collegiate career at Pitt before transferringto Delaware. Outside linebackers coach Mike Pettine coached atPitt from 1993-94. Strength and conditioning coach Bob Rogucki coached at Penn State (1981), while assistant strength andconditioning coach John Dunn played at Penn State (1974-77)and later coached for the Nittany Lions (1978). Wide receiverscoach Jim Hostler was born in Pittsburgh and played (1986-89)and coached (1990-92, 94-99) at IUP.

PITTSBURGH TEAM NOTES• The Steelers look to advance to their seventh Super Bowl with a win over the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.
• The Steelers look to improve to 7-7 all-time in AFC Championship Games.
• The Steelers look to improve to 30-20 all-time in the playoffs.
• The Steelers look for their third win over the Ravens this season, having swept the regular-season series.

PITTSBURGH INDIVIDUAL NOTES
WR Hines Ward

• Needs 88 yards receiving to become the team’s all-time leader for receiving yards in the postseason. Ward currently has 966, trailing only John Stallworth (1,054).
• Needs 34 yards receiving to become just the second receiver in team history to post 1,000 yards receiving in the postseason. Ward currently has 966 and Stallworth finished with 1,054.
• Needs one receiving touchdown to move into a tie for second place on the team’s all-time list for receiving touchdowns in the postseason. Ward currently has eight career postseason touchdowns, trailing Lynn Swann (9) and John Stallworth (12).
• Needs one catch for his 13th straight postseason game with at least one reception, the second-longest streak (tied) in team history.

Weather Forecast:
Cold with a little snow
High: 30°F | Low: 18°F
This game will be at night so the 18 degrees will be the more likely temperature, which doesn't include the wind chill. But, both teams are used to cold weather so all excuses are out the window in this one.

[el loco]

Injury Report:

Ravens:
Out
LB Antwan Barnes
Doubtful
Samari Rolle
Questionable
Derrick Mason
Terrell Suggs
Justin Bannan
Mark Clayton
Todd Heap
Jarret Johnson
Le'Ron McClain
Probable
Ray Lewis
Lorenzo Neal
Ed Reed

Steelers:
Probable
Troy Polamalu
Justin Hartwig

[el loco]

A Steelers game thread wouldn't be complete without having a picture of a Steelers Babe, so after a little searching I found the babe of the week.


Hideous = Repulsive, especially to the sight; revoltingly ugly. Offensive to moral sensibilities; despicable.

So is she Hideous or Not????




































J/K
This is probably more like what you were expecting to see:



At Least I hope it is

[HovaInsomnia]

Lets Go Steelers!
Going to be a hell of a game.

[el loco]

29 hours and some change to go until the kick off.

Who wins the toss and gets the ball first?

[GD13]

Let's go Steelers!
Really looking forward to this game.

Wanna see this team win Superbowl 43!

[el loco]

We got hosed on that personal foul penalty that led to a punt, which then led to the Ravens having great field position after the return.

I guess the Ravens can't do it on their own and the zebra's are stepping in to help them out.

Wow, that interference call was weak. Why not just hand them 7 points and be done with it. It is pretty obvious that they can't get the points without the help

What a surprise they scored and did absolutely nothing offensively or defensively to get those points on the board. What a bunch of BS!!!!

[el loco]

Limas Sweed sucks and was a wasted 2nd round pick, how in the hell did he drop that touchdown pass? Then, after he drops the pass, the vagina (Sweed) plays hurt with his bruised ego.

In defense of the Ravens, they got shafted on that personal foul roughing the kicker penalty. This game has been poorly officiated for both sides. You have two of the most physical teams in football out there, let them play.

[el loco]

Start of the 3rd, Baltimore should have gotten a delay of game, but instead they managed to get the timeout in after the play clock reached zero. The good news is that it was there 2nd charged timeout.

[el loco]

Win or lose, the good news after this game will be that I won't have to hear Phil Simms broadcast another Steelers game this season. I have nothing against him, but we have been stuck with him all season. The guy is like a parasite, which is ok, but he is a parasite that never shuts up.

Sweed made up for his dropped touchdown by preventing an interception. It led to 3 more points for the Steelers.

[el loco]

That was interference on that call, but danged if the Ravens haven't been handed the points that they have managed to get.

This lead official will be lucky if he gets out of town alive. I could have shot him a good 10 or 20 times already myself without remorse

That last drive all started off of our muffed punt. People forget that we lost our punter for the season and the current dud is just a fill in. I will be damned if he didn't turn around and follow it up with another crappy punt. We'd be better off just going for it with this guy playing for the Ravens in this game.

[el loco]

Earlier in this game, I thought they said that Baltimore had already used 2 timeouts, now they still have one left after using another one. Oh well.


Let's go Defense, don't let this team go down the field and kick a touchdown for the win.

[el loco]

[el loco]

Hopefully he will be alright. It is fun to watch hits like that, but it isn't fun to see a person go down after a hit like that no matter what uniform he is wearing.

Anyway

Sweep those Nasty Birds away

And Sweep this clod

away with them