John Madden

Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
If you want to learn how to tackle or watch the way tackling used to be done or the way it should be done, watch this game because these two teams are very, very good tacklers. You may say this is the AFC Championship Game so what are you still talking about tackling for? That is the biggest thing that got them there and I think that's an art that has really diminished over the years, but these two teams are the best at it.

This Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line is a better run-blocking line than a pass protection line and that's what they have to do against the Ravens. The Ravens are so good that you have to mix it up and I think one of the keys for that Pittsburgh offense could be that you pass the ball when they expect you to run and you run it when they expect you to pass because if you run when you are suppose to run. I know Rex Ryan and the Ravens defense will really gang up on the run and if you pass when you are suppose to pass they are going to have some kind of pass rush or blitz or bait you into something you don't want to do.  So if you fall into that type of pattern it will just be tough for you. You can't do it on every play but you have to somehow go against that pattern. 

When you look at the Steelers offense I think they have some really good matchups against this Ravens defense and the big thing is going to be getting the time to do it. Their receivers, especially on that one side, are better than the corner and they can win those matchups if they can get the time and the time isn't always going to be just the four-man rush or three-man rush. They have to get Suggs blocked obviously, but the Ravens bring those blitzes and they can't get fooled by them and they can't get a free rusher on Ben Roethlisberger. Although I was talking about McNabb being tough to get to the ground, but Big Ben is too. He just doesn't give up on plays. 

For the Ravens’ offense, Joe Flacco is not a rookie any more and we did a game with them earlier and just watching him you could tell after just watching for 10 minutes you were watching something special and he is and he has proven it and they are a team now. They are not just the offense, defense and the special teams, they are one now and I think that is probably the biggest thing that John Harbaugh did. Having said that I think these are the two best defenses in football and now you got a young quarterback who's done very well, a young quarterback who is really not a rookie any more going up against the best defense that he is going to see all year and that can be tough.

The challenges are kind of the same for the Ravens’ offensive line. Dick LeBeau is so good at showing you one thing and doing something else. You have to be able to identify the mike linebacker, you have to be able to slide your pass protections and you have to make those decisions before the ball is snapped and then you have to get it blocked and after you make the decisions. You have to hope they are right because if you are sliding left and they are coming overload right you are going to be dead there. Those four linebackers for the Steelers are just great and they can all rush and you don't know if it's going to come from Harrison, it may come from him out there, it may come from Woodley on the left. It may come from both sides and you may think that is where it's going to come and it comes inside with Farrior or Foote so that's a very, very tough defense because of the personnel and the things that they can do plus the scheme that they use.