Dec 25, 2016 7 min read

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I’ve got to admit, I had seen this play out before. I had seen the Steelers go into a game against the Ravens, muddle around and lose to a team that was inferior, at least on paper.

And so, after Ben Roethlisberger threw his second interception of the third quarter and the Ravens turned that into a 20-10 lead, I Tweeted that the Steelers were done.

Oh me of little faith.

We now know what transpired in this 31-27 victory. Inexplicably cold for the first three quarters, Roethlisberger heated up.

Le’Veon Bell scored two touchdowns, the second of which came on a pass from Roethlisberger. And Antonio Brown stretched all 5-10 of his body to reach and get the ball into the end zone with 9 seconds remaining.

And the Steelers beat the Ravens for the first time in two years.

It was a reminder why this is the Steelers’ best rivalry and perhaps the best in the NFL. These two teams left it all on the field. This was a game that had you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Last week in Cincinnati, I simply trained my binoculars on Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict in the second half and watched lineman after lineman take a run at him and him take a run at whoever was wearing a Steelers helmet.

This week, the whole thing was engrossing from start to finish. It was an instant classic and would have been even if Brown had been stopped short of the goal line with nine seconds remaining. It’s the reason why we watch football.

That was two teams leaving everything they had on a field.

Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. And in this case, somebody was going to the playoffs and somebody wasn’t.

It was as close to a playoff game as you’ll see in Week 16 of the NFL season. And it’s just another chapter in a memorable series.

@ I asked several players what they would have done had Brown not gotten into the end zone.

“I have no idea,” said Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro. “I’m glad he did. It’s football. You don’t worry about it. You just celebrate.”

@ Steelers safety Mike Mitchell was in a celebratory mood following the game because he had not only beaten the Ravens and noted foil Steve Smith, but the Steelers had clinched a playoff spot by doing so and knocked Baltimore out of the postseason.

Earlier in the week, Mitchell said it didn’t matter who the opponent was for this game. He would have played the Sisters of the Poor to win the title.

But, when I asked him after this game if he stood by that statement, he took the time to call out Smith, a former teammate in Carolina with whom he’s had a very public feud.

“I wanted to keep the emotions down because, obviously, this was a highly emotional game for me,” said Mitchell. “But this isn’t MMA. This isn’t boxing. I really needed to rely on my 52 brothers to get a win. If it was a one-on-one type of sport, I’d just go slap his face his off. It’s not. It’s 100 percent team sport. My brothers came through and played great.

“II want to say this just to get it out there, I think he’s a great player, a great competitor. Everything else? It’s not football. The No. 1 thing for me today was to come in and get the win for my team. That’s what we did tonight.”

Mitchell admitted that Smith’s latest words, when he called himself the foundation to a house and Mitchell a cabinet in that structure following Baltimore’s 21-14 win earlier this season, disrespectful.

“Yeah, obviously, if you heard it, yeah,” Mitchell said. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re AFC North champs.”

@ The Steelers’ offensive line was outstanding in this game. Not only did Le’Veon Bell churn out 122 yards on the ground, Roethlisberger wasn’t sacked and was rarely hit.

@ The Ravens obviously took advantage of the fact the Steelers were without both Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt in this game.

Undrafted rookie Johnny Maxie was signed off the practice squad and playing a lot of key snaps, as was Daniel McCullers, especially with Ricardo Mathews obviously still hobbled by an ankle injury.

To his credit, Mathews kept hobbling out there because the Steelers needed him, but the Ravens were gashing the Steelers in the running game because those guys were spending too much time on the ground.

@ The interceptions Roethlisberger threw in the third quarter were among his worst this season.

He’s a great player and he’s the unquestioned leader of this team’s offense, but those were bad and inopportune to be sure.

“When you throw that second pick and they are in the end zone already, you know you never hear anything from the defense,” said Roethlisberger, who admitted feeling like he had cost the Steelers the game.

“You never saw them complain about the offense. Same thing when they scored late. You never saw the offense point fingers.”

That goes to the job the head coach does with this team.

As he came off the field, Vince Williams yelled at reporters, “My coach ain’t great, what?”

That was a direct shot at Terry Bradshaw, who claimed Steelers head coach is a great motivator but not a great coach.

The players obviously were aware of those comments and took them to heart.

But the bottom line is that Bradshaw has no clue about what goes on inside the Steelers organization. He rarely, if ever, comes back.

He’s got his opinion. And that’s fine. He’s entitled to it. But it doesn’t mean it was right, despite the Tomlin haters out there trying to cling to it like gospel.

Despite what you might think about Tomlin, he fosters a feeling of closeness in this team that keeps the sniping from happening.

He also has a way of handling guys who don’t play a lot – or at all – and getting contributions from them.

Demarcus Ayers anyone?

Is Tomlin a great coach? It depends on your definition.

But he’s very good, probably better than all but a select handful out there.

@ I know that doesn’t fit the narrative of those who run out the old, “Tomlin’s wasting Roethlisberger’s best years.”

But was it Tomlin who threw those two horrendous picks in the third quarter or was it Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger certainly deserves credit for bouncing back from that. But he also deserves the criticism when he’s playing badly just as Tomlin deserves the blame when he makes a bad decision.

@ I Tweeted out a couple of weeks ago that it didn’t matter what the Ravens did against the Patriots, the Steelers still needed to beat them to win the AFC North.

As things played out, that was almost certainly the case. Yes, the Steelers still could have gotten in had they lost Sunday. But they would have needed a lot of help – most of it from Cincinnati.

More importantly, the Steelers needed to beat the Ravens to settle their psyche. Whether it’s true or not, the Steelers view the Ravens as a good football team.

They’re certainly better than average, but when a team has beaten you six out of seven and four in a row, you need to beat them.

@ I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas.