Steven A. Smith says:

**RAVENOUS52** · 01-14-2009, 04:19 PM

"I really beleive the psychological advantage belongs to the Ravens right now, regardless of what Mike Tomlin says. As much as I love the Steelers, If you are a true football fan and you look at that Baltimore Ravens team, you have to love their mental makeup.

That Ravens Defense? Those boys are Rough-Riders! They are Dawgs-- and I mean that in a good way. They are pitbulls coming after you and you know that with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest of that crew, they are gonna be pumped up and ready on Sunday.

There are gonna be bodies flying, helmets getting knocked off and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few bones broken during this game!"

I don't think the whole "We don't get any respect" tune we sing around here is gonna fly after that ringing endorsement from a notorious native of New York and the Philadelphia media.

**Jeremiah W** · 01-14-2009, 05:49 PM

He is right, but not worth listeneing to most of the time. The national media is going to jump on the Ravens now that they have eliminated most of the comp, but yuo can tell by the way the national media was more impressed by the steelers beating sD at home than the Ravens knocking out the 1 seed in the NFL on the road. They got 10 points, and most of the talk was about a delay of game non call, Cj getting hurt, and a nice little highlight package of bone crushing, body flipping, fumble forcing gang tackling.

The Steelers know what they are in for, and were likley rooting for a rematch with the Titans a lot more that facing the Ravens again.

**purplepoe** · 01-14-2009, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Jeremiah W

The Steelers know what they are in for, and were likley rooting for a rematch with the Titans a lot more that facing the Ravens again.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

The Ravens winning enabled the Steelers to host the AFC Championship instead of going back to Tenn where they got worked a few weeks ago.

If the Steelers were the 1 seed, I could see where they would've rather seen the Titans come to town than the Ravens.

All the national media BS is just that, BS. They are a bunch of Johnny come lately's with opinions that have less merit then many on this board alone.

PP

**Jeremiah W** · 01-14-2009, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by purplepoe

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

The Ravens winning enabled the Steelers to host the AFC Championship instead of going back to Tenn where they got worked a few weeks ago.

If the Steelers were the 1 seed, I could see where they would've rather seen the Titans come to town than the Ravens.

All the national media BS is just that, BS. They are a bunch of Johnny come lately's with opinions that have less merit then many on this board alone.

PP

I have no proof, but I think they would have been all ready to play the underdog who was disrespected role. They have a bad record at home in the playoffs, and are going to hear a much different media and fan message all week than they would if they were going to take on the Titans. Home feild has not seemed as important as how the teams matchup recently, and outside of one real bad half at the Hines, the Ravens have matched up very well with the Steelers recently. Even with Flacco having a bad game, we still had them beat if our D could have just finished, or one of many big plays on O had connected (Heap wide open, Mason Td non challenge, and open 2 times in the endzone).

**HoustonRaven** · 01-14-2009, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Jeremiah W

I have no proof, but I think they would have been all ready to play the underdog who was disrespected role. They have a bad record at home in the playoffs, and are going to hear a much different media and fan message all week than they would if they were going to take on the Titans

You're high. The Steelers hold the best home playoff win percentage in the NFL since 1970. Now if you were ONLY looking since 1992, then you have an argument.

**Jeremiah W** · 01-14-2009, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

You're high. The Steelers hold the best home playoff win percentage in the NFL since 1970. Now if you were ONLY looking since 1992, then you have an argument.

What do I know about 70s football? Not much. I had an OJ and a Bert Jones jersey, but only knew who the Juice was. The Steelers in the 70s were all juiced up, I know that, and that most of them are dead already.

Since I started following football in the 90s, the Steelers have lost a lot of big home playoff games they were favored in.

**StingerNLG** · 01-14-2009, 08:11 PM

Steven A. Smith, eh?

Cool, so if we get Buster Olney and Pierre LeBrun to call the game for us, we'll run the Baseball and Hockey gammuts too.

Sorry, I don't put much stock into what SAS says anyway. I can't stand him.

**highwater** · 01-14-2009, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by StingerNLG

Sorry, I don't put much stock into what SAS says anyway. I can't stand him.

Stinger, you must be kidding. You don't like SAS's well thought out opinions and the soft, understated way he expresses them?

Did he offer this up during a so-called debate with Skip "My head's about to explode" Bayless? Talk about a bad combination -- I actually think Bayless is more of a joke than Smith.

And as far as the overused respect card goes, I don't that really matters to either of these teams.

**ravensrulz** · 01-14-2009, 08:56 PM

[QUOTE=highwater;124726]Stinger,

Did he offer this up during a so-called debate with Skip "My head's about to explode" Bayless? Talk about a bad combination -- I actually think Bayless is more of a joke than Smith.

Skip Bayless is a complete ass, to me he is equal with the other ass Kornheiser.