Thursday Night Football Fantasy Starters: Big Ben, Joe Flacco And Steve Smith

By Steve Silverman Whenever the Steelers and Ravens get together, they always play a tough, brutal game that seems to have more meaning than just the final score. While some old-school rivalries like Bears-Packers and Raiders-Chiefs seem to have waned in importance, the Steelers-Ravens rivalry is alive and vicious. Obviously, each game these two AFC North rivals have has a lot of meaning as far as the standings are concerned, but there is a genuine hatred between the two teams. However, the first meeting of the 2014 season has been overshadowed by the Ray Rice controversy. Instead of concentrating on the Steelers, the Ravens organization has been consumed by the video of Rice that surfaced Monday morning and led to his release by the Ravens. The players can say anything they want about focusing in on their opponents, but that’s just hyperbole. Rice’s vicious assault on his then-fianc