Ray Lewis wants to take a ride on the Bus Sunday, the way he and the Ravens have been riding every other running back in the league for the past 2 1/2 seasons.
"I would hope that they would run him," Baltimore's All-Pro middle linebacker said. "I think we get up for those types of games."
The challenge was laid down yesterday by the NFL's most valuable player in 2000 -- run against the Ravens' defense at your own peril, even if your name is Jerome Bettis.
Bettis and the Steelers have the NFL's top-ranked running game. Lewis and the Ravens have the NFL's top-ranked defense against the run.
It's the kind of power game that might look like two tanks colliding. Neither side backed down yesterday.
"We'll see," Bettis replied. "You know, that's why we play the game. We have to make it a point to run the football on them, make no mistake about it."
No player has rushed for 100 yards against the Ravens in the past 44 games. That's 40 regular-season games and four in the postseason. The last to do it was Chicago's James Allen Dec. 20, 1998 when he ripped them for 163 yards.
Bettis has run for 100 yards in four of six games this season and, with 612 rushing, is averaging 102 yards a game. Yet Bettis has not cracked 100 against Baltimore in his past five chances. He previously did it Nov. 9, 1997, when he ran for 114. Last year, they held him to 65 yards in the Steelers' 9-6 victory in Baltimore and only 8 yards in the opener at Three Rivers Stadium.
"He was in a couple of those 40-plus games," Lewis said.
Lewis did pay Bettis a compliment.
"His feet look extremely better. His feet look like they're back to old. He is running the ball downhill on people right now the way he used to run it. At the same time, he's making people miss and running it away from them. That's a big thing. When he starts that, that is when they usually win."
At 255 pounds, Bettis will be Baltimore's biggest challenge, but will he be their biggest challenge?
"I don't know," Lewis answered. "I guess we'll find out Sunday. Jerome is a competitor, so he's going to come out and play anyway. At the same time, I'm not going to sit here and say Jerome is going to have 100 yards and that he's going to do this and that. We're coming to do what we do to everybody else, and that's make sure that no back is going to get 100 yards."
The running game has been the Steelers' bread and butter and, until Monday night, it was their only nourishment on offense. But Kordell Stewart and Plaxico Burress gave defenses something else to think about by hooking up for 151 yards as the Steelers' passing game cranked out 272 yards.
"Having confidence in the passing game helps us a lot more than it does change what [the Ravens] are going to do," Bettis said. "We believe we can go down the field.
"They're a good football team against the run, make no mistake about it. Nobody's been able to crack that front seven. We'll have a tough time doing it, but we have to go out there and do what we've always been doing, and that's run the football."
The Steelers average 186.8 yards rushing a game. Baltimore allows just 65.7 yards rushing a game. The Ravens have come up against some of the NFL's top backs this season -- Corey Dillon, Ahman Green, Mike Anderson, Eddie George -- and none had more than 57 yards. Cleveland rookie James Jackson came closest to 100 with 77 yards on 24 carries in the Browns' 24-14 upset Oct. 21.
Lewis does not think Bettis can do it, either.
"So I hear," guard Alan Faneca said. "They can say that. and we can say we're going to run a hundred yards on them. That's what Sunday's for. We're going to try to prove what we have to prove, and they're going to try to prove what they need to. Apparently, we don't have to have 100 yards rushing on them to win."
The Steelers, while unable to pile up big rushing yards, haven't let that hold them back against Baltimore. They split their series with them the past two seasons and are 7-3 against them overall.
"It's just like the other night," tackle Wayne Gandy said. "Jerome had 62 yards, but he had two touchdown runs, and that's what's critical. Against Baltimore, it's really going to be critical. Every first down you get against their defense I guess you're closer to a field goal."
The Steelers used a 45-yard touchdown pass from Stewart to Hines Ward and Kris Brown's 24-yard field goal to win in Baltimore Oct. 29, 2000. It was the last time the Ravens lost last season.
The Steelers might have to deliver a deep pass again to beat them, but the Ravens aren't shabby defending the pass, either; they rank eighth in the NFL.
"If our passing game keeps going like it did Monday night, maybe that's how we'll win the game," Gandy said. "They have a tough run defense.
"Ray has all the right in the world to say what he did. If that's what Ray says, I'm not getting in that back-and-forth conversation. He's got the Super Bowl ring. We're just sitting here trying to get to the playoffs."
Lewis, Ravens challenge Steelers to run 
E-mail this story 
