Steelers' Clark has no love lost for Baltimore

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Steelers' Clark has no love lost for Baltimore
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...nt_702200.html
By Mark Kaboly
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, October 1, 2010

First it was the news that Ray Lewis and Ben Roethlisberger exchanged pleasant text messages mere days before the game. And that was followed by all this talk about mutual respect between teams in what is supposed to be the fiercest rivalry in the NFL.

Where is all the bad-mouthing and bounty-hunting between the two teams that supposedly can't stand each other?

Maybe just nobody asked tell-it-like-it-is safety Ryan Clark what he thinks about the Ravens.

"To me, the Ravens are just another football team," Clark said. "They don't come in here wearing a cape. I am not scared they are going to take my lunch money."

Clark is one of those guys who doesn't like the Ravens and doesn't mind if anybody else knows. He is the one who was criticized for knocking out running back Willis McGahee during the final minutes of the AFC Championship game a few years back.

"It's funny, you hear a lot of things coming out of there that certain people take cheap shots and this and that, but when Ray (Lewis) does it or when Ray hits a guy coming across the middle, it's cool," Clark said. "But when one of their guys gets hit, it's not cool."

Clark was alluding to Lewis laying out Jets tight end Dustin Keller across the middle during Week 1 of the season and getting praised.

Quotable

"I'll hold off on that one until Monday because there's nothing taking away from the Ravens. I haven't even thought about it because of where we are at in the week. When Monday comes, I'll probably smile."

— Bruce Arians about the return of Ben Roethlisberger

Digits

1 — Steelers' NFL ranking in average yards allowed per game (280) since 2000

2 — Ravens' NFL ranking in average yards allowed per game (283) since 2000

Mark Kaboly can be reached at mkaboly@dailynewsemail.com or 412-664-9161.