Ramon Foster reported no difficulty sleeping as the weekend arrived, no indigestion, apprehension, hypertension, neurosis, psychosis, nor, in fact, could he even work up a decent case of restless leg syndrome.

"He's pretty hard to shake," Steelers teammate Chris Hoke said of the undrafted free agent who will start at left guard tonight against the Baltimore Ravens. "He's just real comfortable in his skin. He did very well at training camp, always doing a good job holding the point. That's going to be a real strength of his."

Ever since those innocent sun-swept sessions in Latrobe, the 23-year-old Foster has been everyone's favorite upwardly mobile offensive lineman, particularly among those whose professional analyses matter, but perching with the Ravens on November's oily high wire is a challenge that buckles even footballers of established pedigree.

"I'm getting a lot of help from my teammates and I can't really think of it in any way other than to just do the job," Foster said as preparations wound down for only the most critical game of the season to date. "It's a great opportunity to make a big splash."

At least in the literal sense, owing to the laws of displacement, any splash made by Foster or any of his highly athletic brothers has to be big. The rookie from the University of Tennessee is 6-5 and 325 pounds. His brother Renardo, currently on the New Orleans Saints practice squad, is 6-7 and 340. His brother Rodney Carney, playing small forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, is 6-7 and 205, and another brother, Ron Slay, playing professional basketball in Italy for Cimberio VA is 6-8 and 240.

At Ripley High in Ripley, Tenn., you could hitchhike down to the Mississippi and you could even end up being Mr. Football as a two-way tackle, but you couldn't always stand out in your own family.

But the tangible comparisons can't be fraternal tonight, because the pressing issue is more entangled in how Ramon Foster compares to Chris Kemoeatu, who started 29 consecutive games at the position until his knee buckled at Arrowhead Stadium a week ago. You can start with the fact that Foster's at least 20 pounds lighter, and at least a world lighter in experience.

"I thought he was just coming out for one play," Foster said about seeing Kemoeatu exit. "He's a one-of-a-kind player. For me to be out there in that spot, to have that kind of chance, that's some kind of debut."

Yeah, it's a bit of a pickle Ramon will find himself on prime-time TV, sort of like his own personal reality show, but some circumstances could mitigate his situation slightly.

First, Baltimore's defense is the medical equivalent of one large bruise. Without their uniforms, these guys are still purple and black. Ray Lewis missed practice Thursday and was limited Friday. Ed Reed verse visa. Terrell Suggs is likely out. Disruptive defensive tackle Haloti Ngata has a balky ankle and has practiced sparingly. The defense the Ravens present tonight could have five starters missing from the one that played the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field last winter.

Second, while Baltimore's defense is similar to Pittsburgh's in philosophy and innovation, this violent series hasn't exactly required an advanced degree to get a handle on what's coming.

"It's straight contact," offensive tackle Max Starks was saying this week. "No glitz, no glamour, no finesse. And we don't have the greatest record going down there."

Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers 92 yards in 12 plays to a winning touchdown with 43 seconds left in Baltimore last Dec. 14, but prior to that Pittsburgh had dropped five in a row there by an average of more than 10 points.

Third, Foster has shown, as Mike Tomlin pointed out this week, "remarkable maturity" for a young player, and that's not a surprise to the people who had evaluated him prior to the draft. He didn't run very well at the combine in Indianapolis, but his game tape at Tennessee seemed to indicate a player who performed a lot better than he worked out. The Steelers considered him draftable, and he has already outperformed drafted offensive linemen Kraig Urbik and Tony Hills. Neither Hills, a fourth-round pick in '08, nor Urbik, a third-rounder this year, have dressed on a Sunday, at least in a football uniform. Foster has played in eight consecutive games, and he starts tonight for the first time.

"I remember my first start in college, against UAB at Tennessee," Foster said. "I was a redshirt freshman and somebody got hurt. After that, I tried to make it hard for them to get me out of there."

If all he does is help keep the quarterback upright and maybe create a running lane now and again (what a concept!), Foster's debut will instantly turn into his best football memory. For a kid who remembers watching Ray Lewis on TV in middle school and thinking, "there's a shoo-in Hall of Famer," whatever he's thinking tonight could be the fulcrum to a season in the balance.

Gene Collier's "Two-Minute Warning" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.