Big Ben, Terrell Suggs Relive Hatred in Steelers-Ravens Rivalry

Ben Roethlisberger and Terrell Suggs have seen everything in the NFL. But they may see each other the most. The two competed against each other in the iconic Steelers and Ravens rivalry at its height in the regular season and playoffs. There’s no love lost here, especially from the Suggs side of things. But there is also a mutual of these rivals having known what the other can do.

Roethlisberger congratulated his longtime foe Terrell Suggs on his induction into the Baltimore Ravens Ring of Honor. Suggs will be honored at halftime of Sunday’s Ravens-Lions at M&T Bank Stadium, watching his name join the Ring of Honor with legends like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Jonathan Ogden.

“Tell Suggs I said congratulations,” Roethlisberger told the Ravens website. “I loved playing against him because of the competitors we both are, the battles that we would have, the mutual respect that we had for each other. And I absolutely hated it because he was either intercepting a pass, knocking passes down, sacking me – something that just made my day miserable.

“When we were going to play Baltimore, I had to know where he was. I had to try and mentally beat him and that was hard. People talk about his physicality and what kind of physical freak he was. But he was a smart football player. You could outsmart a lot of guys, but not him. When I had to go up against him, I had to stress my brain. Only he can answer if I raised his game, but I know he always raised mine. He was a special player.”

Both players went tooth and nail at it and got back at one another. That is what made the rivalry great. Despite all of those great players, the rivalry and depiction of Suggs against Roethlisberger may be the most iconic image of those late 2000s matchups. That is how much the energy got amped up when these two faced each other on the same field.

“It went hand-in-hand, especially with guys like Hines Ward and James Harrison. We didn’t like them. It wasn’t a hate, like if we saw them on the street we weren’t going to get in a brawl. Nah, it wasn’t that kind of hate. It was a football rivalry. Their flag vs. our flag kind of thing,” Suggs recently told GQ Sports.

Regardless, both are in their post-career stages. Suggs still hates the Steelers. Roethlisberger does not like the Ravens. That all makes sense. But the mutual respect for one another goes deeper than the game, and that is something that defines great rivalries.