STEELERS - 23 / Ravens - 20 - QUICK HITTERS

All of SteelerNation Shared the Victory
Over the Ravens Yesterday...

To be honest, there isn't much to gripe and moan about after the Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens last night.  The Steelers proved that they were a team with grit, determination, and resiliency that wins championships.  Nonetheless, if you follow this site on a regular basis, I will ALWAYS have something to write about!  Lets do this...

- Tomlin is My Guy - I remember almost immediately after the Steelers lost to the Browns reading an article on another Steelers blog where someone had posted an almost knee jerk reaction to the game.  One of the things that this individual wrote was how Mike Tomlin shouldn't have had his contract extended and is a horrible coach in all facets of coaching.  I couldn't have disagreed more with this article.  In my opinion, Tomlin is the man, and he's my guy for the Steelers.  He has shown time and time again (okay, maybe not in 2009 when he declared to "unleash hell" and the team went on a 3 game skid) that he knows what buttons to push and how to motivate this team.  Throw the fact that he looks like he hates John Harbaugh as much as I do, and that is like the cherry on the top of a ice cream sundae!  There is no one else I'd rather have as the Steelers coach, in my humble opinion.

- Missed Opportunities - The Steelers are winning games and still missing golden opportunities to put teams away.  Hopefully this is something that is like a virus, and will clear their system as the season wears down.  I wouldn't necessarily count on it though.  Mike Wallace provides another drop last night, Emmanuel Sanders' costly fumble, Antonio Brown's and Charlie Batch's idiotic INTs.  These are opportunities that the Steelers CANNOT have down the home stretch...

- HUGE WIN, But Need More - This win over the Ravens was plain and simple...HUGE.  Huge for confidence, huge for momentum, and huge for playoff seeding.  However, the Steelers can't be complacent with this one victory.  As Mike Tomlin says, they need to "stack victories" if they want to truly compete for a Lombardi Trophy.  The Steelers have 4 very winnable games on their schedule, with 3 of those 4 at Heinz Field.  Their next 4 games - vs. San Diego / @ Dallas / vs. Cincinnati / vs. Cleveland - Those 4 games could be 4 wins and the Steelers could be marching into the postseason riding a gigantic wave of momentum.

- I'm Not Conceding the Division Yet - I might be alone here, but I am in no way conceding the AFC North to the Ravens.  With yesterday's victory, the Steelers remain in striking distance of the Ravens, and I have a feeling the Ravens are due for some losses down the stretch.  The Ravens final 4 games are against the following opponents - Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, New York Giants, and Cincinnati Bengals.  If the Ravens lose 3 of 4, and the Steelers win their next 4 games...the AFC North is Pittsburgh's.  The odds of the Ravens losing 3 of their next 4 is tough to believe, but if they play the way they play against the Steelers anything is possible.

- Offensive Line - Kudos to the Steelers' offensive line.  They did a tremendous job in pass protection last night.  The Steelers had a patchwork line (from left to right) - Max Starks, Maurkice Pouncey, Doug Legursky, Ramon Foster, and Kelvin Beachum.  Although the running game wasn't what most of SteelerNation would have liked to see, the Steelers did a tremendous job of protecting Charlie Batch.  Regardless of who is in there...if the line can protect that way when Ben Roethlisberger returns to the lineup, good things will happen. 

- Championship Resiliency - I spoke of Tomlin's ability to motivate a team as well as having the team show resiliency...this is something this Steelers team has shown all season, not just after this win.  When everyone was writing them off for being 2-3 they rattled off 4 straight wins to go to 6-3.  When they dropped the next two behind backup QBs, NO ONE gave them a shot and they shocked the Ravens at "the bank" and are now sitting at 7-5 and in control of their own destiny.  Its this resiliency that makes teams championship material, and those not even close.  Look at the Steelers next opponent to see what the opposite of championship resiliency is...the Chargers have imploded this season.  With losses to the Raiders, Titans, and Browns some teams would have wavered, but this Steelers team has shown the ability to not let the media, or anyone else, get to them.  Championship material.

- GAME BALL - This could go to Heath Miller with 5 catches for 97 yards.  This could go to Shaun Suisham for nailing 3 kicks of 40 yards or longer.  This could go to the offensive line I spoke of earlier that only allowed 2 sacks.  This game ball could go to James Harrison for his game changing strip sack.  However, this game ball goes to:

Charlie Batch - Hands down he deserves every ounce of respect that he earned on the field yesterday.  He got hit and always got back up, and when he made a mistake he didn't let it phase him.  Leading the Steelers back from a 10 point deficit in Baltimore isn't an easy feat, but good ol' Chuck got 'er done!  Congrats to Charlie...he deserves it!