By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Hines Ward runs the ball against the Baltimore Ravens on December 14, 2008 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. The Steelers defeated the Ravens 13-9.(Getty Images)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- There are any number of unpleasant incidents that define the Steelers' long, bitter, hateful rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens, but the most recent involving Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and Ravens linebacker Bart Scott seems like the perfect place to start this morning.
When the teams last met Dec. 14 in Baltimore, Ward tried to throw a crackback on Scott during a scramble by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. At the last instant, Scott saw Ward coming and ducked. Ward missed him.
"They put a bounty on me and then he ducks," Ward said with just the right amount of disdain after the Steelers' last-minute, 13-9 win.
"He saw Hines coming and he was scared!" teammate Santonio Holmes piped in from two lockers down.
You're probably shocked to learn that someone asked Scott about that this week with the teams to meet again Sunday in the AFC championship game at Heinz Field.
Hey, I couldn't help myself.
"Yeah, I'm scared of a 200-pound man," Scott said. "I deal with the big guys every play, but I'm scared of him. Yeah, right. Put that down. I'm scared of him."
Scott's smirk matched Ward's best on any day.
"It's almost comical," he said.
Thing is, Scott wasn't laughing. He never laughs when Ward is the topic of the conversation. He refuses to even call him by name. The two have become the faces of the nasty rivalry, arguably the meanest in the NFL. It was Scott who threatened to "kill" Ward after Ward sent him flying with a block in the game at Pittsburgh last season, telling him "that payback is a [bleep]."
Scott stopped short of that this week.
Just short, actually.
"His time will come. He'll get his," Scott said of Ward. "He'll come across the middle one day and someone will hit him or take out his knee. The guy will be fined and [Ward] will be gone. No one will care. No one will even care. No one will send him any cards saying they're sorry. Not to that guy.
"You reap what you sow."
Over the years, the Ravens have worked up a good case of dislike for a number of Steelers. Former linebacker Joey Porter comes to mind. "He's [a bleep]," cornerback Chris McAlister called him after he pushed down Ravens injured tight end Todd Heap in '04. Former wide receiver Plaxico Burress also was despised here. "Plexiglass," then-Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe called him after he maligned the Ravens' great defense in '01 by saying, "They've got one good player" -- linebacker Ray Lewis -- "and the rest are just followers."
But the Ravens' hatred for Ward is off the charts.
It goes back to the '01 season when Ward popped Hall of Fame-bound safety Rod Woodson with a block, bloodying his nose. After the game, Woodson threatened to get even and was so angry that he temporarily scuttled a proposed business deal he had for Ward to promote his Pittsburgh automobile dealership.
It was during that season that Ward first spoke of an alleged bounty the Ravens had on him and Burress. Just this season, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs went on a national radio show and said his teammates had a bounty on Ward and Steelers rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall. The ferocious Lewis ended Mendenhall's season when the teams played Sept. 29 in Pittsburgh by breaking his shoulder with a brutal -- but clean -- hit.
"Hines Ward is definitely a dirty player, a cheap-shot artist," Suggs said in that radio interview.
With so much at stake Sunday, the Ravens tried to be politically correct this week, downplaying their animosity toward the Steelers in general and Ward in particular. Linebacker Jarret Johnson went so far as to say he'd like to have Ward on his team. "Anybody who's that competitive and wants to win that badly, you'd love to have him as a teammate."
What a crock, you know?
But Scott didn't play those games. "I have no comment about [Ward]," he growled, initially. But, after being reminded of Ward's block attempt in the last game and Holmes' colorful description of the play, he had plenty to say.
"My little son could stand behind you and poke you in the eyes when you turn around and hurt you," Scott said. "Is that being tough?
"Is hitting someone when they're not looking being tough? To me, that's no better than taking out a quarterback's knees."
Scott mentioned Ward's block on him last season. "I had pulled up because [running back] Willie Parker was going out of bounds. I'm sure he's glad I did because I could have taken a cheap shot at him. I chose not to, but [Ward] chose to take a cheap shot at me. That's the way he is."
In that same game, Ward knocked All-Pro safety Ed Reed on his fanny with a block. "That block on Ed had nothing to do with the play," Scott said. "The play was over. [Ward] hit him anyway because he wasn't looking. He likes to hit people when they aren't looking …
"Go ask Keith Rivers what he thinks about that."
Rivers, a rookie linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals, had his season end when Ward broke his jaw with a crushing block Oct. 19.
Scott didn't want to hear that Ward wasn't penalized on that block or on the ones on him and Reed last season.
"Tell me, do you think they were legal hits?" he asked. "Is it a legal hit when a receiver comes across the middle and I hit him when he's defenseless? If you think it is, tell it to the league so I don't have to send them my money the next time it happens."
This is just a guess, but Scott probably would welcome getting a shot at Ward Sunday.
Not that he's anticipating one.
"He's a wide receiver. He's on the outside. I'm a linebacker. I'm on the inside," Scott said. "He only comes into my world when he chooses to …
"That's the difference between him and Joey [Porter]. Joey's in the box with the men. He's not on the outside looking to hit people only when they aren't looking. If Joey wants to be tough, he has to deal with [former Ravens All-Pro offensive tackle] Jon Ogden. Now that's tough. So what if Joey pushes down Todd Heap? He has to answer for it.
"Who does [Ward] have to answer to?"
Not to an angry linebacker, that's for sure.
Sadly, for that angry linebacker.
"That's OK," Scott said. "The more [Ward] does, the more we'll just turn it up on their other guys. We'll make it tougher for Willie Parker."
Or maybe Roethlisberger.
Somehow, though, it just won't be the same.
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 16, 2009 at 12:00 am
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