Dave Pruitt, Sports Emerge
When you think of the Pittsburgh Steelers recently, you also think of the Baltimore Ravens. As of now there is no other rivalry in the NFL that could rub shoulders with this high intensity battle that has been broadcast across the nation on our wonderous football Sundays & Mondays.
Wiz Khalifa a well known hip-hop artist (if rap is your ‘cup of tea’), released a song named “Black & Yellow”, you may’ve heard it as it exploded on the scene during the 2010-2011 NFL season. Had really nothing to do with the Steelers other than the colors of the orginization, it was more so a representation for the city of Pittsburgh. However, it started a movement that brought the attention of the youth to football that the MADDEN NFL franchise hasn’t grasped already.
It brought in the younger, hipper crowd. A category that LaMarr Woodley falls under, a category I would like to believe I still fall under.
The 26 year old Woodley, a Steelers outside linebacker believes that Joe Flacco quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens will never be capable of winning a Super Bowl, “in this lifetime” as Woodley declared.
Hines Ward, a Steelers wide receiver & someone who Danced with a Star or something like that, chose to hold the horses. 14 years in the league, I’m sure he knows when to bite his tongue, realizing how ugly it can get against the Ravens. Hines appeared on NFL Network & addressed Woodley’s comments on Flacco’s futuristic inability to win a Superbowl.
He expressed, “I don’t disrespect the Baltimore Ravens,” speaking to the NFL Network panel. “LaMarr is LaMarr.”
Hines decided not to awake a sleeping giant. “They can win with Flacco.”
Hines understands Woodley & his teammates approach; displaying courage & confidence something they’ll need each time they snap in their chin straps against the Ravens. But as a older veteran, Hines Ward has experienced enough on the gridiron to not give the revengeful Baltimore Ravens any more reason to abuse him during their heated match-ups.
John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Ravens responded to LaMarr Woodley’s statement, described as a “big fat piece of bulletin board material.”
He said, “We don’t need any bulletin board material to get ready for those guys or anybody else, but we’ll be ready for LaMarr Woodley and the rest of that football team and they know it.”
Like anybody else, Woodley is just displaying his superiority after his team has been the wall that Joe Flacco & the Ravens CAN NOT get through. In 2008, Flacco’s rookie season, he showed he was a NFL quarterback being the 1st rookie to win 2 playoff games.
Then he met the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 1st time in a AFC Championship where he went 13 of 30 in pass attempts for 141 yards, was sacked three times, and intercepted three times. Not pretty, but hell, he was a rookie; what you expect?
The following year Flacco & the Ravens appeared in the playoffs again in the 2009 season winning in the Wild Card round against Tom Brady’s New England Patriots, when Joe Flacco basically let RB Ray Rice carry the load. Flacco completed only 4-10 for 34 yards and one interception but they still won. Only to go see the other Hall of Fame bound quarterback Peyton Manning & his Colts to get blown out 20-3 in Indianapolis. They didn’t play the Steelers in the playoffs that year because the Steelers didn’t reach the playoffs.
Last year Flacco was once again haunted by Woodley’s Steelers in the AFC Championship game giving the Steelers another shot at snatching a championship but they fell short to the current champs, the Green Bay Packers.
John Harbaugh believes his Ravens shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“We love LaMarr, we love what he says, especially when he says things like that. … We appreciate being underestimated, we do. If the Steelers choose to underestimate us, we appreciate that. We’ll show up right on time. Those buses will pull in [and] we’ll come walking into that locker room.
“[Woodley] knows that.”
The cliche, “get over the hump” wasn’t created for no reason. It’s describing an achievement accomplished that was thought not possible by skeptics.
Once upon a time, Peyton Manning couldn’t get it down against his playoff rival in Tom Brady, Bill Belichik & the Patriots. He eventually did.
Message to LaMarr Woodley from me: “Haven’t you learned anything from LeBron James? Joe Flacco won’t win a Superbowl? You sure, be careful what you ask for, he may, he may do it this season & he may go through your Steelers to do it.”
Wouldn’t that be a story.
It is what it is...
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