PITTSBURGH (AP) — As he neared the Baltimore sideline, Steelers receiver Hines Ward swept in and took out two Ravens players with a single block on a screen pass. Across the field, Terry Bradshaw whooped it up, yelling and pointing.

On a similar play, linebacker James Harrison — playing the game of his life against the team that once cut him — hit Ravens star Ed Reed so hard on a punt return the ball flew 15 feet before the Steelers recovered it.

Not far away, Jack Ham and Mel Blount recalled some similar big hits by the Steelers defense of the 1970s known as the Steel Curtain. On what Ward said was “a magical night’’ because of the setting and the score, there were numerous comparisons between the championship Steelers of long ago and this team.

Final score: Steelers 38, Ravens 7, and it wasn’t that close.

Thanks mostly to Harrison, Ben Roethlisberger and the aura created by the nearly dozen Hall of Famers who gathered to celebrate Pittsburgh’s 75th season, the Steelers played better than they have since winning the Super Bowl nearly two years ago.

The numbers, about as one-sided as they could be, told one story of the Steelers’ domination of a team that outscored them by a combined 58-7 while beating them twice last season. The big grins and the loud cheers by the Steelers’ all-time team members who gathered for a halftime ceremony told another.

“You want to put on a show for those guys,’’ Ward said.

What a show it was, too. Roethlisberger tied the team’s single-game record with five touchdowns passes, and did so before the half as Pittsburgh repeatedly got the ball deep in Ravens territory. Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington made two scoring catches apiece.

And Harrison played a game that would have made Jack Lambert proud with 3½ sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception.

“To tell you the truth, it seemed like everything was working,’’ Harrison said. “It was a little more satisfying because it was Baltimore and they cut me.’’

Roethlisberger summed up Harrison’s night with one word: “Amazing.’’

Of course, the Steelers also twice cut the former Kent State linebacker — Lambert’s alma mater, by the way — before finally deciding the non-drafted free agent was good enough to replace longtime star Joey Porter. The Steelers released Porter in March mostly because they felt Harrison would give them as much production.

Of course, they didn’t know it would come in one night.

“That was the most amazing performance I’ve seen out of a linebacker, probably ever,’’ teammate James Farrior said.