What a party!
PITTSBURGH — As he neared the Baltimore sideline, Steelers receiver Hines Ward swept in and took out two Ravens players with a single block on a screen pass. Across the field, Terry Bradshaw whooped it up, yelling and pointing.
On a similar play, linebacker James Harrison — playing the game of his life against the team that once cut him — hit Ravens star Ed Reed so hard on a punt return the ball flew 15 feet before the Steelers recovered it.
Not far away, Jack Ham and Mel Blount recalled some similar big hits by the Steelers defense of the 1970s known as the Steel Curtain. On what Ward said was "a magical night" because of the setting and the score, there were numerous comparisons between the championship Steelers of long ago and this team.
Final score: Steelers 38, Ravens 7, and it wasn't that close.
Thanks mostly to Harrison, Ben Roethlisberger and the aura created by the nearly dozen Hall of Famers who gathered to celebrate Pittsburgh's 75th season, the Steelers played better than they have since winning the Super Bowl nearly two years ago.
The numbers, about as one-sided as they could be, told one story of the Steelers' domination of a team that outscored them by a combined 58-7 while beating them twice last season. The big grins and the loud cheers by the Steelers' all-time team members who gathered for a halftime ceremony told another.
"You want to put on a show for those guys," Ward said.
What a show it was, too. Roethlisberger tied the team's single-game record with five touchdowns passes, and did so before the half as Pittsburgh repeatedly got the ball deep in Ravens territory. Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington made two scoring catches apiece.
And Harrison played a game that would have made Jack Lambert proud with 3Z\x sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception.
Roethlisberger summed up Harrison's night with one word: "Amazing."
The 75th season party-night victory gave the Steelers (6-2) a one-game AFC North lead over Cleveland (5-3), which visits Heinz Field on Sunday. Defending division champion Baltimore drops to 4-4 amid season-long problems with an offense that has scored only nine touchdowns in eight games.
"We dug ourselves a hole," Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said. "With a team like that, it's hard to dig yourself out."
Add in those four first-half turnovers on a rainy, windy November night, and it's easy to figure out how the Steelers opened a 35-0 lead late in the first half.
"They'll be disappointed, they're going to be embarrassed," Ravens coach Brian Billick said of his players. "We all are."
For good reason. The Ravens managed 104 yards to Pittsburgh's 291, partly because Steve McNair threw for only 84 yards despite completing 16 passes. Willis McGahee gained 50 yards, but was pulled in the second half with a concussion.
"It was one of those nights where everything went their way," Trevor Pryce said. "They come to Baltimore in December and it will balance out."
That's a lot of ground to make up in a short time. Last season, the Ravens roughed up Pittsburgh 27-0 in Baltimore, then beat them nearly as badly, 31-7, in Heinz Field.
"That's all we kept hearing about all week was 58-7, the total score of the two games," Ward said. "They outplayed us. They were more physical. ... It's really gratifying that we can change things around from last year."
