The Monday night football audience was spoiled the past two weeks, treated to scores as if the Celtics-Lakers series were still playing.

The Steelers and Baltimore Ravens plan to do something about that. You want scoring? Try the baseball playoffs this week because there's a better chance to see it there.

"I'd say most likely you're going to see what I call real football Monday night," Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith said. "This isn't going to be basketball on grass."

The NFL, which has legislated against defense the past 30 years, loves scoring, and that's what everyone got when the past two Monday games produced 155 points.

Las Vegas oddsmakers predict a total of 34 points combined tonight. Those are fewer than the losing team scored on Monday two weeks ago (Cowboys 41, Eagles 37) and less than half the points from either of the past two Monday games.

So, tonight, get ready for some defense as the NFL's top two defenses, the Ravens at No. 1 and the Steelers at No. 2, expect to dominate at Heinz Field.

"Those who are used to high Monday scores, they're going to be in for a big surprise this week," said linebacker James Farrior, captain of the Steelers' defense.

A 6-3 final would surprise no one.

"I'll take a game like that," Farrior said. "I love them. The lower the score the better. The people who really know about football, who like to watch football, it'll be one of those games."

The Steelers are used to it. They scored a combined 16 points in their past two games and won one of them, 10-6 in Cleveland. They are spoiled in another way because they love low-scoring games. Smith said his favorite from last season was their 3-0 victory in the Heinz Field muck against Miami.

"I definitely enjoyed that. Those are the ones you don't forget. You can forget the ones on FieldTurf where they spread you out and throw 30-some times."

Safety Ryan Clark took it a step further.

"I don't want to win a game, 49-48. I feel like I lost the game. You feel just as bad winning one of those as you do losing."

Many of the big names from both teams reside on defense with the Steelers' Smith, Farrior, Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, and the Ravens' Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Trevor Pryce, Terrell Suggs and Bart Scott.

Many of those have been at this twice annually for years and while there's animosity, the respect also oozes out even when Joey Porter challenged Ray Lewis to get off his team bus and settle matters right then and there.

"In these types of battles, it's almost fun to watch the other defense," Clark said. "You're not so much playing against their offense, you're playing against their defense, too. You want to go out there and outplay the Ravens' defense.

"It's a one-two matchup that's been built up all week."

Adding to the chances that the television audience will hear more of Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski tonight as they fill in the gaps between scoring are the teams' offenses.

Oh, those? The Ravens, who have had one of the league's best defenses this century and one of the least productive offenses, are starting anew with a quarterback who played for the University of Delaware at this time last year, Pitt transfer Joe Flacco. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is in the midst of trying to avoid shell shock after he had more sacks (eight) than points (six) a week ago in Philadelphia.

The Steelers' offense ranked 29th in the NFL in yards produced entering the weekend, 22nd in scoring. The Ravens' offense has done better, ranking 19th in average yards and 16th in average scoring, but they've also played both games at home against teams that have combined for one win, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Flacco has no touchdown passes and two interceptions, although the Ravens have done a much better job protecting him because he has been sacked just once.

Not surprisingly, both teams love to run, or at least the Steelers did until they ran just six times in the first half in Philadelphia. The Ravens rank second in the league with a 190-yard average. The Steelers fell to 18th at 111 but historically run more often than any team in the NFL.

"These are two teams that probably are going to get after each other a little bit, hit each other in the mouth and run the ball," said Smith, the hitting part literal in every sense of his words.

Welcome to football, Pittsburgh and Baltimore style.

"I don't think it's going to be a pretty one to watch," Clark said.