The toughest players, the craziest moments and the pride of two blue-collar cites: The MMQB caught up with broadcasters from Pittsburgh and Baltimore to dissect football’s hardest-hitting rivalry
Neither Qadry Ismail nor Tunch Ilkin played in the height of the Steelers-Ravens rivalry, but as respective broadcast voices for Baltimore and Pittsburgh they have called their share of crack-back blocks and vicious hits in the classic AFC North showdown. Before his second career in media, Ismail played receiver in Baltimore in the early days of the rivalry, from 1999 to 2001. Ilkin played offensive line for the Steelers from 1980 to 1992, before the birth of the Ravens, when Pittsburgh’s main rivals were the Browns and the Oilers.