Steelers, Ravens show the hate is plenty fresh

Well, the Steelers and Ravens both certainly brought it when they faced off against each other in the season opener for both teams. Too many in fact it probably looked more like the opening game of the playoffs with the bone crunching and no holds barred attitude. The story of the game however was how great the Ravens played on both sides of the football, racking up the points as well as crushing Hines Ward and Ben Roethlisberger on almost every possible play. The Ravens defense which is highly touted year in and year out caused Roethlisberger and the Steelers to turn the ball over an incredible 7 times, which ironically matched their entire point total, and often made Roethlisberger's throws look like lame ducks flying through the air with his 3 INT's.

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The Ravens offense was not to be outdone or upstaged by their teammates on the defensive side. Other than Joe Flacco, the key story for the Ravens was their big time running back Ray Rice. Rice had over 100 yards rushing and a TD while Joe Flacco threw for 224 yards and 3 TD's. One surprise possibly to some was how well former Dolphins stud running back Ricky Williams did carrying the football for his new club the Ravens averaging over 5 yards per carry and ripping off chunks at a time as he blasted through the gaping holes of what is usually a no nonsense D. One thing is for certain it looks like the Ravens are back to having all aspects of their team on the same page while the Steelers surprisingly have a whole lot of yet to do. Then again let's not get carried away after all it is only week 1.

By: Ed Murphy
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer