OWINGS MILLS - Moments after the Baltimore Ravens trounced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game of the season, Terrell Suggs' face broke into a mischievous smile.

Three times Suggs had decked elusive Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for sacks, forcing a pair of fumbles in the Ravens' 35-7 victory in September, and the Pro Bowl outside lineabcker wasn't done inflicting punishment.

Afterward, Suggs rubbed a little verbal salt in his wounds.

"God can have his soul," Suggs said, "but his ass belongs to me."

Months later, the accuracy of Suggs' remarks still stand.

"You all know the numbers," Suggs said. "There's nobody who can do it better than me. It's going to be fun. I'm pretty sure that they'll have something in store to make sure I don't have a day, but I love being the bad guy. Whatever they're going to do, we're going to act accordingly."

Suggs has recorded 15 1/2 career sacks against Roethlisberger, including the playoffs, for the most of any NFL player against one of the sturdiest, most difficult to tackle quarterbacks in the league.

During the Ravens' AFC divisional playoff loss against the Steelers last January at Heinz Field, Suggs had three sacks and a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

Now, Suggs and the Ravens (5-2) are preparing to square off with the Steelers (6-2) again in Pittsburgh with first place in the AFC North on the line Sunday night.

And Suggs has no intentions of lowering the volume or his intensity as the Ravens resume their blood rivalry with the Steelers.

"We know it's going to be a fight," Suggs said. "They already declared war on us. We're taking 53 men into the apocalypse and we ain't bringing flowers."

That last sentence was Suggs, a noted movie buff who owns an independent Maryland film company, adapting a line from the film, "The Jacket," a psychological thriller about a war veteran.

For Suggs, there is no bigger stage than going on the road to Pittsburgh.

"We have been declared war upon, we are the enemy of the state," Suggs said. "This is my Madison Square Garden" he said. "I love playing in this stadium. I love the way the people treat me, the welcoming they give me with the No. 1's. I guarantee you the NFL, the world, will stop for this game, and everybody wants to see it. We will be ready, and we will act accordingly. Like I said, there is the Super Bowl and then there is Ravens-Steelers. Everybody will be watching this game."

In 17 career games against the Steelers, Suggs has practically been unblockable.

He has registered 81 career tackles, one interception, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries during the regular season.

And Suggs is well aware that the Steelers have one thing on their minds Sunday night as the two AFC powerhouses clash again: payback.

"They are definitely going to have some, ‘Let's get after them' to their game," he said. "In hindsight, who knocked us out of the playoffs last year? In 2008, a certain team beat us to go to the Super Bowl and danced all over the field, held up the AFC Championship trophy. We had to sit by and watch that. It's a little salt on the wounds on both sides.

"Ray Rice says, ‘So we aren't going to have to see them again.' I disagree. We are definitely going to have to see these guys again. But, every team has that. Peyton Manning had to go through New England. [LeBron] James has to go through Boston. [Michael] Jordan had to go through the Pistons. We are definitely going to have to see them again, especially to achieve what we want to achieve."

And Suggs couldn't resist calling out injured Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, who missed the Steelers' last game against the New England Patriots with an ankle injury and was limited in practice Wednesday.

Ward has a history of confrontations with the Ravens, usually getting the best of his collisions with them in the past with a series of vicious crackback blocks except for the first meeting this year where he was roughed up by linebacker Jarret Johnson and strong safety Bernard Pollard.

"I'm looking right at you 86. I need you to play," Suggs said. "Please put on that 86, that smile and all the things you do. We need all that for this game.'

In the past, Suggs has donned T-shirts with a Raven flipping off the Steelers and another expressing his hate for Pittsburgh.

Now, he's ready for one more game against the archrival Steelers.

"I am expecting traditional smash-mouth, punches, I am expecting it to be very physical," Suggs said. "This is a heavyweight fight. Like I said, who better for the job than us, the bad guy?