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Play of the Game: Burress burns Ravens' secondary
Burnt toast
Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review
- Dominating opener
- Washington bounces back as Steelers' defense dominates
- Tempers flare before, during and after game
- Tight end plays prominent role for Steelers
- Steelers spotlight
- Steelers try winning for openers
- Steelers toss complete game at Baltimore
Joe Starkey can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7810.
They might want to cover him.
Burress had six catches for 116 yards Sunday in the Steelers' 34-15 victory, giving him 26 catches for 443 yards and four touchdowns in his past five games against the Ravens - and he was kicked out of one of those games just before halftime.
No play yesterday was bigger than Burress' 47-yard catch late in the second quarter. It set up the Steelers' first touchdown, and according to Ravens cornerback Corey Fuller, changed the tenor of the game.
"It was still manageable and then, boom," Fuller said. "That play gave them momentum."
The Steelers led 6-0 at the time. Baltimore had dug in to hold the Steelers to a pair of field goals and was looking to stay within a touchdown when the Steelers lined up first-and-10 from their 45 with 4:01 left in the half.
Fuller said he was supposed to receive deep help from safety Will Demps on the play. It never came. Burress said that Demps bit on an inside fake, allowing Burress to blow past him and Fuller.
The play proved to be the longest of the game. It also typified the day-long disarray in the Ravens' defensive backfield.
"You think I would have been playing man-to-man that far off of him?" Fuller said. "People don't know what coverage they're in."
The catch would have counted even if Burress hadn't held onto the ball, because Fuller tackled him before it arrived, drawing a flag for interference. Fuller also strained his quadriceps on the play and did not return.
Burress, meanwhile, is constantly amazed that the Ravens won't shut up. Last year, safety Gary Baxter said that Burress didn't compare to Keyshawn Johnson or other top receivers. In the week leading up to this game, cornerback Chris McAlister said the Steelers did not have an elite receiving corps.
Burress taped that story to his locker.
"For some reason, those are the guys that talk the most," Burress said. "All it does, is it just fires us guys up. When teams degrade you and talk about you, you have to step up and show them."
Predictably, the Ravens still were talking after yesterday's game, in which Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox completed 21 of 29 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns.
"Everything they got, we gave them," Baxter said. "They got the best of us today, but I don't respect any one of them."
Fuller: "I think it's more what we did to ourselves than what they did to us. If they think they're going to get this lucky every Sunday, they're crazy."
In the first quarter, Burress was flagged for taunting after pushing Fuller in the face.
"I don't why these guys think this is some kind of personal thing," Fuller said. "They have this false reputation where they think they're tougher than they are."
But they have a real reputation for being pretty tough to cover, and it gets enhanced with every game against the Ravens.
