Behind the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, plus 10 things to watch for Sunday

"Is there some hitting out there today OR WHAT!'' Simms said with a dazed look on his face, as if to say, Boy, I sure am glad I'm not playing in this one.

There's something about this rivalry. It's almost medieval. Though it wasn't football justice that the Steelers came away from Buffalo with a gift win last Sunday when Steve Johnson dropped what would have been the winning touchdown pass in overtime, I have to admit I was thinking when Pittsburgh survived: Good. Now the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game this week's going to be bigger. With both teams winning last week, this game now matches 8-3 Pittsburgh at 8-3 Baltimore, with the AFC North title and a playoff bye very much in play when they meet Sunday night on NBC.

I wanted to try to capture what the rivalry was like -- not the anger of town versus town, but what it's like on the field to play in this game. So I asked Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark, whose hit on Willis McGahee in the open field of the AFC title game 23 months ago still rings as one of the biggest Steeler hits ever.

"After a game against the Ravens, you wake up Monday morning, and it's just different,'' he said. "These two teams have been built that way. If there's another team in football that's been built like us, like a physical team that takes pride in never being out-hit, it's Baltimore. I can guarantee you Sunday that on any play you look at, there'll be 22 guys on the field, and not a single one of them will be soft. Our attitude is, even if we lose, we can't let the other team be more physical, and I can guarantee you we won't. Even the players who you don't think of as playing physical position -- Derrick Mason, Hines Ward, Willis McGahee, Ray Rice, Rashard Mendenhall, all our guys -- come into this game attacking.''

Clark says photos from his hit of McGahee two years ago make up about 80 percent of the pictures he signs when he autographs for Steeler fans. In the title game, Pittsburgh led 23-14 in the fourth quarter, and the Ravens were driving, trying to get back in the game. McGahee took a short pass from Joe Flacco and turned upfield when Clark launched himself into McGahee, cracking into his helmet. Both men fell to the turf, and McGahee, severely concussed, lay motionless for several minutes until taken off the field on a cart. "I may live on in Steeler lore because of that one play,'' Clark said. "The sad thing is he got hurt, and I regretted that, obviously. But it's the kind of play you get in this rivalry.''

It's the kind of play, now, that will get a $50,000 fine from the NFL, most likely. And the recent crackdown by the NFL on helmet-to-helmet hits on receivers, which have left the Steelers feeling like the league office is targeting them, has actually changed the way Clark plays -- to a degree. "I try to place my aiming point lower than the head,'' Clark said. "I'll play hard, fast and physical, and deal with the rest later.''

He'll join the club then. One other point: I find it interesting that even though these two teams are as nasty to each other on the field as any two that I've seen in 26 years covering the NFL, there's a sort of warriors' code at play here. The two communities won't feel this way, but when the two teams walk off the field close to midnight Sunday, there will be a nodding sort of respect between them.

Clark acknowledged that respect. Take what he's about to say the right way, Pittsburgh.

"Hatred is a strong word,'' Clark said. "I don't particularly hate them. In fact, the ultimate respect I can give them is if I couldn't play for Pittsburgh, I'd want to play for Baltimore.''

He paused for a second, then laughed. "Now make sure you say I don't want to play for them -- I hope I play for Pittsburgh the rest of my career. I love the Steelers. I love being a Steeler. I love Steeler Nation. But here's what I mean: We play football like it's supposed to be played. So do they.''

In the safe new world of the NFL, I hope the collisions are loud Sunday. And legal. And not including the head. Because this is the game I look forward to like no other.

LeSean McCoy is really good, and the perfect foil for Michael Vick.

I remember a couple of years ago when the Eagles were scouting McCoy, the running back from Pitt, and thought he was the best receiver of the backs coming out that year. When he got to camp, they found out something else: He was going to learn to block well if it was the last thing he'd do. Now he's become the kind of all-around backfield threat the Eagles had for so long with Brian Westbrook.

In the totally predictable 34-24 win over the Texans on Thursday night, McCoy had 20 touches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. One TD came on the ground, the other in the air. He's become a perfect hot-receiver candidate for a smarter Mike Vick (eight targets, eight catches last night) and has a knack, like Westbrook, for almost always making the first tackler miss or breaking that tackle.

Devin McCourty, CB, New England.

Tom Brady is completing a typically strong 66.3 percent of his throws, but New England's opposing quarterbacks are even better -- an alarming 68.3 percent. In the past three games, the generous Patriot D has surrendered 70, 76 and 78 percent, and with the maturation of Mark Sanchez with the Jets, that has to be a concern entering the likely AFC East championship game Monday night in Foxboro.

That's why McCourty's so important. In the Thanksgiving Day rout of the Lions in Detroit, McCourty continued his ascending play, with a couple of interceptions, one in which he and Calvin Johnson went up for the ball and McCourty out-fought him for it. Monday night in Foxboro, look for McCourty to have dangerous Jet wideout Santonio Holmes early and often. If McCourty loses more of those battles than he wins, the Jets will have a big advantage in the passing game and will be tough to beat.

Kyle Williams, NT, Buffalo (number 95).

At 6-foot-1 and 306 pounds, Williams is not the typical 3-4 defense run-stuffer; he's not the stout 330-pound type who just stuffs the run. But when Williams takes the field against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday, Brett Favre -- and, more importantly, the interior of the Vikings offensive line -- will know he's a rare player. They could see that from watching the tape of the Steelers' narrow win over the Bills last week. Williams had one of the best games by a defensive tackle in the league this year, with 10 tackles, two sacks and three more quarterback hits last week.

"He is not a typical anything,'' coach Chan Gailey told me Friday morning. "He's got unusual quickness and unusual competitiveness -- I mean, great quickness, great instincts, great competitiveness. That's what makes him a great football player.'' I said to the buttoned-up Gailey I haven't heard the word "great'' come out of him very often. "I choose that word very carefully, and I don't use it often,'' he said. "But Kyle's a great football player.''

Atlanta wide receiver Michael Jenkins' numbers against the Bucs on Sunday:

Amazingly, Jenkins doesn't have a touchdown yet this year, and I see the Bucs loading up to stop Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White. But Jenkins has been targeted 22 times in the past three quiet weeks, and it's only a matter of time before he breaks out a bit.

1. Philip Rivers and perfection. Hard to imagine the Raiders having much of a chance at Qualcomm. Rivers is 19-0 in his career in December and January regular-season games, and he threw for 431 yards against the Raiders in their first meeting this year.

2. Michael Turner against the Tampa D. Remember the name Corey Lynch. He'll be the safety with some run responsibility for the Bucs on Sunday, and after the season-ending injury to Cody Grimm and Sabby Piscitelli being cut loose, lots of eyes on the Bucs sidelines will be on Lynch's ability to backstop the defensive front when Turner gets in the open field.

3. A quarterback battle in Indianapolis between Peyton Manning ... and Jon Kitna? Don't laugh. Kitna's passer rating the past three weeks is 110.4, and he's been an incredibly pleasant surprise for the Cowboys. So pleasant, in fact, that the 'Boys are thinking seriously of doing nothing at quarterback in 2011 -- simply bringing back Tony Romo and Kitna as 1-2 instead of looking for a young body to give them a little youth at the position.

4. The quite strange AFC South. If the Cowboys could pull a not-so-stunning upset over the slumping Colts, and if the Titans, as expected, can conquer the Jags, the division will have a three-way tie at the top, with Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Tennessee all 6-6 heading into the last four weeks.

5. Fighting. Who's next? At some point, the league is going to have to acknowledge that $25,000 fines are no deterrent to punching another player in the face on national TV -- and giving a classy league another black eye.

6. The never-say-die Bills. I've really come to love watching this team. With no postseason to play for, the Bills, in order, have taken the superior Ravens to overtime on the road, the superior Chiefs to overtime on the road, blown a late lead to the playoff-bound Bears, beaten the Lions, scored 35 straight points to overwhelm the Bengals, and come within a dropped touchdown pass in overtime by Steve Johnson of beating the superior Steelers. The Bills are 2-9, and I know a few of their fans, and they're stupidly excited about the last five meaningless games, starting Sunday at the Favres.

7. The Rams and Seahawks in a fight for superiority of the mighty, mighty NFC West. Seattle-Carolina at Qwest. Shouldn't be a problem for the 'Hawks to get to 6-6. St. Louis-Arizona out west. Should be a problem for the Rams, especially with Darnell Dockett (neck) and Joey Porter (age) not playing like Darnell Dockett and Joey Porter, so I see it going Sam Bradford's way. I still think there's a decent chance the division winner goes 7-9.

8. Big Ben's Big Foot. Broken, unbroken, it hurts. But that's not going to matter much Sunday night. Wouldn't be surprised to see Roethlisberger flexing the foot and limping on national TV Sunday night, but he won't be leaving the game against the Ravens barring halftime amputation. In any case, I think this is more of a Rashard Mendenhall game anyway.

9. The weird NFL schedule, and the Jets and Pats. New England and New York played three games in 17 days, culminating in Thanksgiving Day walkovers. Then, with this Monday's game looming, they had 11 days 'til the next game. Strange. So strange that Bill Belichick gave his players Wednesday off this week, which NFL players never have in a game week.

10. The Todd Haley glare. WWTD? In the wake of the angry non-shake after their first meeting this year, What Will Todd Do with Josh McDaniels on the field before the Chiefs-Broncos rematch? If I had to guess, I'd say an insincere handshake.