Ravens running back Jamal Lewis is dropped for an 8-yard loss in the second quarter by Steelers defenders James Harrison (92) and Joey Porter (12/6/04).
SteelersLIVE Xtra
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Monday, October 31, 2005
The Steelers come into the Monday night Halloween clash with the Ravens at just about full strength. The same can't be said of the Ravens. Ray Lewis is out, same for Ed Reed, and Jamal Lewis might as well be too. Anthony Wright, a Steeler send off, is quarterbacking this outfit and despite the addition of a very good Derrick Mason at wide receiver, the results are the same. No offense, good defense, and a bad record at 2-4.
Halloween is based on the theme "trick or treat" which always implies the threat of some sort of nastiness. As the Steelers prepare to take on the Ravens on Halloween night, the nastiness factor should be evident from the coin toss on, based on Joey Porter's decision not to shake the hand of the opposing team's captains after the coin toss, and the Todd Heap episode to which Brian Billick threw back onto the stage in his press conference, seeming to again make something out of nothing.
Over the years Billick has lauded his won-loss record in Pittsburgh, rumors of Ravens players "marking their territory" on the Heinz Field playing surface have circulated, Joey Porter-Ray Lewis have a running feud that escalated at one point to post-game bus area madness and every game between these two clubs has that good o'l down home feeling of a backyard brawl. There is no love lost between these two clubs. Add the national stage of Monday Night Football, and the zaniness of a home crowd who've been trick, or treating themselves to tailgating for hours. Top it off with Myron Cope in the house for a big halftime celebration and Pittsburgh's seemingly favorite guy to boo, Kordell Stewart making a return appearance and I'd say the nutzo factor took quite a jump.
But here's the real challenge to this game. Focus. The only way you can be Super Bowl champs is to beat the chumps. In a long 16-game season, not to throw in the meaningless four game pre-season game schedule that really are meaningful, just not for won-loss purposes, highs and lows are inevitable. Every year teams win games they should have lost, and lose games they should have won. One test for every Super Bowl hopeful lies in the "beating up the stiff" litmus test. Admittedly, it's a less than scientific approach to predicting Super Bowl worthiness, yet it's a truism I subscribe too.
Actually it's an expansion of another theory which I believe in that you can't play in the NFL if you can't lump up the stiffs on a player versus player level. This comes into play most prominently in training camp, when high draft choices lock up with low-enders or campers (player slang for guys in camp that don't have a chance to make the team) and wind up on the losing end of camp battles in one on one drills, and game situations. If you can't whack the low-enders, then the high rent guys are gonna smoke you.
This is where my "rubber meets the road" theory wise. The 2005 Ravens edition is far from the Super Bowl version of 2000, but nonetheless they present a challenge to the Steelers of 2005 simply because they're breathing. Halloween brings out the whackiness in people. Players, believe it or not, are people too. Whacky people doing whacky things on a whacky night. Added up, that's an awful lot of whackiness. That is exactly what the Steelers have to guard against on this Halloween night. To make sure the trick is on the Ravens and the treat is given to the fans.
By the way, and I'm just thinking out loud here, I'm going to go trick or treating as a vegetarian-type skinny guy. The trick is getting into the costume. The treat is a nice 32 ounce porterhouse for dinner. Talk about whacky.
Craig is co-host of "In The Locker Room with Tunch and Wolf" which can be heard weekdays from 7-10 a.m. on Fox Sports Radio 970. Wolf is also the sideline reporter for the Steelers Radio Network and played for the Steelers from 1980-89.
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