"We play running backs and we say, 'You have to tackle this guy to the ground,'" linebacker Jarret Johnson said. "That might be an odd statement, but it means that you have to wrap up and bring them all the way to the ground. Pittsburgh is like that as a team.

"You can't just beat them in the first or second quarter. You have to beat them the entire game. Pittsburgh is a 60-minute team. You have to beat them into the ground."

The Ravens have proven to be strong finishers, though. They have outscored opponents 98-33 in the fourth quarter with just 13 points surrendered in the fourth quarter over the past nine games.

BIG HITTER: Middle linebacker Ray Lewis leads the Ravens with 134 tackles, including several emphatic hits. He has inflicted a lot of pain this season.

He nailed Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis during the Ravens' 24-10 win last week, and knocked Steelers rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall out for the season with a fractured shoulder on another brutal shot in the third game of the year.

Lewis consciously bulked up to 260 pounds in order to pack more power into his tackles, and so he would have a little extra padding to absorb some of the force from the blows he delivers.

"He's playing big," defensive coordinator Rex Ryan said. "He's hitting people, and they're going backwards. It's funny because he looks like it's the same Ray Lewis, but, man, he really is delivering some shots this year. Big hits turn games, the momentum of games. I'm glad he's on our side."

In a recent Sports Illustrated poll, Lewis was named by NFL offensive players as the one defensive player they would rather not run into.

"I always want to be remembered as that guy that every play you've got to deal with me," Lewis said. "That's the respect you look for. You don't look for it outside. You look for it from your peers and people that you play against. So when you get that type of respect, it just goes to show you that all the hard work that you do put in, it pays off."

HIT MAN II: The Ravens are well aware of Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward's penchant for vicious downfield blocks, especially after he broke Cincinnati Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers' jaw.

Plus, Ward upended an unsuspecting Reed and linebacker Bart Scott a year ago with painful results.

"A lot of times when you peel around, you have to keep your head on a swivel because you're going to get cracked," Johnson said. "A lot of teams don't have the receivers willing to block. He's willing to throw it in there."

Ward has no intentions of changing his hard-nosed approach to the game.

"I'm not going to wait around to be hit," Ward told Pittsburgh reporters. "I'm going to continue to go aggressively after guys."

Ward knows that he's owed a few revenge shots by the Ravens. It's a rare occasion when he gets the worst of a confrontation.

"My day's coming," Ward said. "Hey, I've been hit before. Ed Reed hit me a couple of times, but I'm not going to sit there and worry about guys talking about how they're gonna get me back."

QUICK HITS: The Ravens have cut down significantly on personal fouls. The last one assessed was on linebacker Antwan Barnes for taunting against the Miami Dolphins. "We remember those," Harbaugh said. "It's been a point of emphasis from the get-go, and we've been applying it. Our team understands that things that aren't helpful we just can't do. Most of those things aren't helpful. So, I'm proud of the fact that they've cleaned that stuff up, but it needs to carry over into Sunday and through the rest of the season." ... The Ravens piped in crowd noise to simulate the conditions at M&T Bank Stadium during Friday's workout at their indoor practice field. "Our concern is that our defense has to communicate, that's why we did crowd noise on the defensive side of the ball," Harbaugh said. "We want our fans being loud to disrupt their offense, but we can't let it disrupt our defense. So, we've got to handle communication with that." ... Harbaugh said he didn't have to advise his players to avoid providing the Steelers with any bulletin-board material. It has been a relatively quiet week in both cities with virtually nothing that could be considered trash-talking. "Our guys just understand what is effective and what's not, what's important and what's not and what's going to help us win and what's not," he said. "Those other things certainly aren't going to help us or help the Steelers. Obviously, both sides understand that."