Oct 1, 2015 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – The Steelers’ rivalry against the Baltimore Ravens was missing many of its key participants from over the years Thursday night at Heinz Field.

Retirements, injuries and attrition have robbed both teams of many of the players who made this the most heated rivalry in the league.

With quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out for the Steelers and Terrell Suggs sitting at home watching this game for Baltimore, Thursday’s night’s meeting was missing some of the old sizzle it used to bring.

If participants on either side had any question about what kind of game this typically is, they only had to listen to Steelers Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis wax poetic about the matchup.

“It’s one of those games where they are the No. 1 rival,” said Bettis, who was honored at halftime for his hall of fame induction. “You get up for that game. I don’t know if I enjoyed that game but I got up for that game. This would be one of those weeks where you didn’t have to say much to anybody about ‘picking it up’ or ‘practicing hard’ or ‘getting in gear.’

“When this week was on the schedule, you needed to turn up your play and be ready because you knew this was a game that you needed to have your big boy shoulder pads on. It was a physical battle for 60 minutes. The game could go either way. We knew that it was only one or two plays in the game that could turn the tide.”

We saw a lot of that Thursday night.

Though the Steelers were playing without their star quarterback and the Ravens were off to an 0-3 start for the first time in their history, this game had the same feel to it as any other meeting between the teams.

Sure, it was a prime-time game. Sure, the Ravens couldn’t afford to fall to 0-4 and desperation is a driving force. And sure, the Steelers felt they owed the Ravens something for knocking them out of the playoffs last season.

But the names and faces change in this rivalry but the bitterness the two teams display for each other remains the same every year.

“The key to a rivalry is not the physicality of the game per se,” said Bettis, who added plenty to the physicality of the rivalry over the years. “The key to a rivalry is when you go into a game, you don’t know who is going to win. That’s what makes a great rivalry.

“You could say, ‘Hey this team is our biggest rivals and we’ve beat this team so many times in a row.’ That’s not a rivalry. That’s just another game on the schedule. This is a game on the schedule that you don’t know who is going to win.”

That was brought to life on the field late in the second quarter last night.

With the Steelers trailing 7-3, they mounted a drive to the Baltimore 11-yard line.

All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell took a handoff and followed all of his blockers to the left side of the field. But as Baltimore’s defenders flowed with the play, there was nothing there.

Bell quickly reversed his field, picked up a key block from quarterback Mike Vick on cornerback Lardarius Webb and bolted into the end zone to give the Steelers the lead.

It was the kind of play that people will talk about in front of the watercooler this morning – if they still do that. It was the kind of play that happens every time these teams meet.

It was the kind of play that had to have Bettis smiling.

“That’s what makes it so special,” Bettis said. “Each team is preparing because you don’t know. That’s what gets the juices going and the fans understand and appreciate that as well.”

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.