PITTSBURGH — Let those other teams wear throwback uniforms.
The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers are throwback teams, descendants of the single-wing days of leather helmets, canvas pants and single-platoon football.
Their coaches are named John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin, but during a different time it’s easy to picture these Ravens and Steelers being coached by George Halas or Curly Lambeau. They hit hard, play with a fury, own a yard-wide mean streak and give an inch as grudgingly as if they were giving up a first down.
In an era of spread formations, five-receiver sets, two- deep zones and a gimmick a minute from some offensive coordinators, the Ravens and Steelers win with defense and toughness. Let other teams try to outfox you — they’ll outhit you.
Last week, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger quick- kicked, of all things. If that’s not something out of a Sammy Baugh playbook, what is?
The Ravens and Steelers are so alike in style, attitude and makeup that it’s difficult to tell one from the other, so perhaps it’s fitting the two rivals will play for the AFC championship today.
“When you get two bullies going up against each other, it’s about who is the strongest bully,” Steelers linebacker James Farrior said.
The Steelers are playing their third AFC championship game in five seasons.
“We are very similar teams,” Ravens all-pro linebacker Ray Lewis said. “They have a lot of the same type personalities we have. You have ultimate competitors on both sides of the football. I think that’s where it kind of stirs up.”
Pittsburgh has the NFL’s best defense statistically in 17 years and Baltimore is second.
The Ravens were fourth in rushing, the Steelers an unusually low 23rd, but a now-healthy Willie Parker has restored Pittsburgh’s traditionally powerful running game, gaining 262 yards in his last two games.
Both regular-season games between teams located only four hours apart were tight. The Steelers rallied for a 23-20 overtime win at home Sept. 29, then won the rematch 13-9 in Baltimore last month.
Asked about the supposed difficulty of beating a good team three times in a season, Tomlin said, “I personally don’t subscribe to that hocus-pocus.”
However, there have been only 11 sweeps in the 55 instances NFL teams met three times.
