Dec 21, 2016 4 min read

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Each year for the 24 years that I’ve covered the Steelers, the stories immediately come out after the Pro Bowl rosters are announced.

“Pro Bowl snubs,” are typically the title of the story.

They then go into a list of good players who got overlooked by the voters, often breaking them down team by team, picking one player who “should” have been chosen.

Guess what? Last season more than 40 players were chosen for the Pro Bowl who eventually declined to play in the game.

So the players don’t even care about the event, beyond being able to say that they were Pro Bowl players.

For the Steelers, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown and Maurkice Pouncey were obvious choices this season. Ben Roethlisberger and David DeCastro got in on name recongnition.

Right tackle Marcus Gilbert and inside linebacker Ryan Shazier could have been chosen and nobody would have blinked an eye – except for the fact they’ve both missed a handful of games.

But snubs? Eh, the Steelers would much rather be playing in the game the week after the Pro Bowl than the game itself. Same goes for every other team in the league.

• I had a funny exchange with cornerback Ross Cockrell today when talking about the Steelers’ upcoming game with the Ravens.

Cockrell mentioned that he grew up watching the Steelers-Ravens games of old, going as far as using either one of those two teams when he would play Madden Football as a kid.

He then talked about growing up watching Ray and Jamaal Lewis for the Ravens or James Harrison for the Steelers.

“No, really,” he deadpanned after mentioning Harrison.

We had Anthony Chickillo sitting in for Antonio Brown Tuesday night on the radio show on WDVE and ESPN Pittsburgh and he mentioned the same thing, growong up watching Harrison play.

In fact, he mentioned that as a rookie last season, his first interaction with Harrison came at 6 a.m. when the rookie class was being shown around the team facility.

They went into the weight room at 6 a.m. and there was Harrison in his sweat-soaked workout gear, lifting away.

“He was completely soaked, so you knew he had been there already for like two hours,” Chickillo said.

That’s how you make a first impression.

• Baltimore is just 2-4 on the road this season and hasn’t won a game away from M&T Bank Stadium since beating Jacksonville, 19-17, Sept. 25. The Ravens’ other road win came a week before that in Cleveland when the Browns blew a 20-0 lead in a 25-20 Baltimore win.

Since then, the Ravens have been outscored 108-79 in losing road games to the Giants, Jets, Cowboys and Patriots.

Yes, three of those losses were to very good teams, but the Jets? They beat Baltimore, 24-16 and haven’t won a game against a team not named the Browns or 49ers since.

I know the history of this series and the way it has gone.

The Ravens have won the past four games and five of the past six. But, Ben Roethlisberger didn’t start the game in Pittsburgh and, if not for two Josh Scobee missed field goals, the Ravens, who were pretty healthy at that point, would have lost to the Mike Vick-led Steelers.

The Steelers gacked the rematch away in Baltimore to be sure. But they have had trouble against the Ravens in Baltimore, much like everyone else has.

The last time Roethlisberger started a regular season game against the Ravens in Pittsburgh, he torched them for six TD passes.

The Steelers need to spread the field and throw on these Ravens, much the same way New England did in a 30-23 win over Baltimore a couple of weeks ago that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate.

• Stephon Tuitt was walking around the locker room this morning – sans knee brace – pretty well for a guy who is questionable to play this week. I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t play.

• Steelers placekicker Chris Boswell made a team-record six field goals and also had a touchdown-saving tackle in the first half that could have changed the outcome of Sunday’s game.

But he didn’t win AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. That went to Tennessee’s Ryan Succop.

Nothing against Succop. His 53-yard FG at the end of regulation was a game-winner for the Titans.

Good for him. But Boswell provided the Steelers with five field goals of 40 or more yards in similar weather conditions, including four from 45 yards or longer.

But, like the Pro Bowl voting, it doesn’t really matter.