The Steelers and Ravens will renew their rivalry on Thursday night without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the helm for Pittsburgh.
Roethlisberger is out with a knee injury, which leaves Michael Vick to run the Steelers offense against the winless Ravens. In past years, that might have meant preparing for Vick’s particular set of skills but Ravens coach John Harbaugh says that won’t be the case in the next few days. The Ravens will be focused on the Steelers as a whole, rather than on just the abilities of the guy playing quarterback.
“We have a lot of respect for him -- a fine quarterback. He brings unique talents to the table, and those are things we’ve got to prepare for, but really the preparation is for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Harbaugh said, via the Baltimore Sun. “Their team is intact -- all the things that they do, all the players that they have, that’s what they revolve around, is who they are a football team. And now he becomes a piece of that team that we have to be aware of.”
If the Ravens do want some deeper insight into Vick, quarterbacks coach Marty Mornhinweg could provide it after working with Vick on the Eagles and Jets in recent years. That work went so well that Mornhinweg lost both jobs and moved from offensive coordinator to position coach, although the Steelers have a bit more to work with offensively than the Jets did when Vick was pressed into action last season.
