Bad-blood bowl, Round 2

There are no bounties on the heads of Pittsburgh Steelers -- the Baltimore Ravens swear to that -- but no one on either side of today’s bitter rivalry denies the bountiful reward of winning.

“We’re playing for a home-field bye,” Steelers receiver Hines Ward told reporters last week. “That’s our goal, that’s what we’re playing for.”

That’s no simple task for Pittsburgh, which hasn’t beaten the Ravens on the road since 2002. If they end their five-game skid in Baltimore today, the Steelers will win the AFC North and collect a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The Ravens, who at 9-4 are a game behind the Steelers in the division, are in position to earn one of the AFC’s two wild-card spots.

No NFL rivalry is drenched in more bad blood than Steelers-Ravens, which also happens to pit the league’s two top defenses. One of these teams has won the AFC North title six of the last seven seasons.

After Pittsburgh posted a 23-20 overtime victory over Baltimore in Week 4, Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs caused a dust-up that grabbed national headlines. In a radio interview, he suggested that his team had placed bounties on Ward and rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall -- whose season came to an abrupt end when he was blasted by Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis and suffered a broken shoulder.

League officials swooped in afterward, investigated the situation and warned Suggs that any further mention of bounties could draw serious disciplinary action. The Ravens denied putting a price on the head of any players.

Regardless, Ward, possibly the hardest-hitting receiver in football, who in the past has clobbered Ravens linebacker Bart Scott and safety Ed Reed, got the message. And shrugged it off.

“I don’t know what I’m doing to get under their skin,” Ward told reporters with a grin last week. “Maybe they just don’t like my smile or something. I have no idea. I guess they don’t like it.”

Of course, the ill will flows both directions. “They’re all hated,” Ward said. “Anybody in purple, they’re hated. It’s a respect, but there’s no love for them. They’re not inviting me to come out and eat crab cakes with them.”

As Suggs might like to remind him, it’s hard to eat crab cakes with no teeth. But the Ravens standout held his tongue for the most part.

“I can’t say anything about him this week because of the stuff that happened and because we’re playing them,” Suggs said. “I’m being totally honest. I can’t give you what you deserve” to hear.

This much goes unspoken: The game figures to be a low-scoring, bruising defensive battle. Over the last four games -- all Pittsburgh victories -- the Steelers gave up 10 points each to San Diego, Cincinnati and New England and 13 to Dallas.

The Ravens are riding a three-game winning streak, having surrendered seven points to Philadelphia, three to Cincinnati and 10 to Washington.

Against Dallas last Sunday, the Steelers’ defense clinched the victory when cornerback Deshea Townsend picked off a Tony Romo pass and returned it for a late touchdown.

“We’re going to win by any means necessary,” Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison told reporters. “If the defense has to score, if the special teams have to kick in a score, or if the offense has to score 50 points -- whatever it takes to win.”

The last part is a tall order, considering the Steelers have scored more than 30 points only three times this season. Lately, they’ve struggled to establish the run.

Meanwhile, Baltimore rookie quarterback Joe Flacco will be facing a Pittsburgh defense that has 45 sacks this season, tied with Dallas for the most in the league.

Asked by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to sum up the game’s importance, Flacco said: “Baltimore-Pittsburgh. I think that says enough.”

The kid learns fast.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com