In a town-hall meeting between General Manager Ozzie Newsome and season-ticket holders on Wednesday night, one of the most popular topics was how the Ravens would defeat the hated Pittsburgh Steelers.
After fielding several questions regarding the Ravens’ AFC North rival, Newsome flipped the equation.
Yes, the Ravens need more explosive plays on offense, they need to corral elusive quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and they must protect their end zone.
At the end of the day, however, the Ravens are not backing down to the team that has ousted them from the playoffs in two of the last three years.
“Pittsburgh is going to have to find ways to beat us too,”
said Newsome. ” I think we can get there with the quick strike. When you’re playing against Pittsburgh, at some point they have the ability to get you with the turnover.”
“But if you can trump that by getting an easy score, like we almost did with a punt return, then it kind of balances your books.”
The Ravens defeated Pittsburgh last season in Week 4, but that was with Roethlisberger sidelined due to suspension and journeyman Charlie Batch under center.
After that, the Ravens succumbed to two heartbreakers, one of which ended the Ravens’ postseason hopes.
“When they find ways to get the easy touchdown against us, we have to find ways to get the easy touchdown against them in order to continue to compete with them and beat them,”
said Newsome.
Newsome believes Baltimore can roll over that hump by executing more explosive plays on both offense and defense, and the Ravens took steps to remedy that situation last weekend by drafting shutdown cornerback Jimmy Smith and home-run-hitting wideout Torrey Smith.
“When Ben [Roethlisberger] likes to run around and take his time, hopefully he can be running around and Jimmy can get an interception and take that to the house,”
explained Newsome.
As for Torrey Smith, Newsome added, “I think getting Torrey into the mix will allow us to get that quick strike.”
