From the Baltimore Sun‘s Ravens Insider:

Asked during a conference call with Baltimore media Tuesday afternoon whether he enjoyed lining up against the Ravens, Roethlisberger replied, “As a competitor, yes, you love it, but heck no, I hate playing the Ravens. They’re so good. Defense, every single person and every scheme, everything they do, it just challenges you. As a competitor, you like that challenge and you like the competitiveness, but man, they’re good.”



You can read more here.


And about the broken nose…

The last time the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers met, the Steelers left M&T Bank Stadium on Dec. 5 with a win and a broken nose for Ben Roethlisberger.

But the Pittsburgh quarterback said he understands that the left-handed blow his face absorbed from defensive tackle Haloti Ngata was inadvertent.

“It wasn’t like I was mad,” Roethlisberger said during a conference call with Baltimore reporters Tuesday afternoon. “No way was it on purpose. So I didn’t feel any kind of way about it.

“I have to apologize to Kelly Gregg,” Roethlisberger said. “I blamed him for it during the game. I’ll have to apologize when I see him on the field. I was giving him a hard time. But any time that these two teams play, the winner walks off feeling pretty good about themselves. I know that because I know some of the guys over there and I know what this rivalry means. So like I said, it’s always a big-time game.”


You can read more on that here.

Kelly Gregg accepts Ben’s apology here (along with a bit of good-natured ribbing).



From ESPN‘s James Walker:

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger shrugged Tuesday at recent comments made by Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh (see yesterday’s post).

“I think it was taken out of context, if you ask me,” Roethlisberger said. “I know Coach Harbaugh. He’s a Miami guy and us Miami guys stick together; there’s so few of us. Actually, on the field before every game we talk to each other and ask how everything is going. So I don’t think it was intended maliciously at all.”


You can read more here.

You can watch locker room interviews with Ben, Mike Wallace, Ryan Clark, Heath Miller and Hines Ward here.