The 2000s rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens was must-watch television every time they came on TV. That is always guaranteed to happen two times per year, but it was often three times in those days with both teams qualifying for the playoffs regularly. Their rivalry games rarely disappointed. Of the 24 times they played each other from 2000 to 2010, 11 of those games were decided by a field goal or less. The physicality of the matchup was embodied by players like Hines Ward, Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, James Harrison, and many others. That tone carried over to the rest of the roster for the rivalry matchup.
Former Ravens LB Bart Scott sat down for an Untold Stories segment on the Ravens’ YouTube page, and discussed a time when he got the better of former Steelers FB Dan Kreider.
“I was always searching for respect and validation,” Scott said. “They’re in their four-minute offense. It’s clear that we’re gonna lose this game. But we can lose the war, but we’re not gonna lose the battles.
“If there’s one thing I’m not gonna take, it’s disrespect. Especially from a dude with a neck roll. I mean Dan Kreider, we had a whole conversation about what was about to occur. The play before the timeout, I hit Willie Parker…I’m like, ‘Listen Willie, this guy’s gonna get you killed. He sucks.’ ”
Kreider overheard Scott saying this, and had some choice words of his own directed towards Scott. The verbal altercation continued during a TV timeout, and Mike Tomlin got within earshot of their back and forth.
“Tomlin stopped and said, ‘you want him?’ He said, ‘heck yeah, I want him.’ Mike Tomlin with his hands crossed didn’t even bat an eye, said ‘Go get him.’ And Dan Kreider was all jacked up on Mountain Dew,” Scott recalled.
Sure enough, the next play was designed for Kreider to lead block up the middle, straight on a collision course with Scott. Kreider was stopped in his tracks, and Scott went right back to his smack talk directed at Kreider and Parker.
“I told you this dude sucks,” Scott said from his recollection of the events. “The problem was, he got up too fast…He got up fast, popped up, said ‘screw you,’ runs to the sideline, gets to the numbers, collapses.”
Kreider ended up missing the next week. Given how physical the Steelers-Ravens rivalry was at the time, missing the next week of play was a pretty common occurrence. Scott alluded to the game already being well out of hand in this particular instance. What he failed to mention is it was the single-biggest loss of the decade in that rivalry.
The Steelers won the game 38-7 on Nov. 5 of the 2007 season. That was the game best remembered by James Harrison completely dominating the Ravens. It might be one of the best single-game performances by a defender in NFL history. On Monday Night Football—in front of a national audience—Harrison had 10 tackles, six QB hits, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, one interception, and one fumble recovery.
So while Scott may have won the rather insignificant battle in garbage time against Kreider, Harrison and the Steelers won the war in a landslide on that day.
