It’s that time of year: With the season heating up, and December football upon the NFL, it comes as no surprise that the Steelers have a key AFC North game against the Baltimore Ravens this week.
Coach Mike Tomlin loves it.
“I really enjoy the structure that is today’s NFL scheduling,” said Tomlin. “The excitement associated around these division games, the weight on them, not only for us and Baltimore, but just globally speaking.
“We felt it a year ago. We had some big games against them in the latter part of the year as well.
“I think it’s good for football. It’s good for our fan base. It’s good for their fan base. It’s an honor to be a part of it.
“Certainly, it provides an edge for us, an urgency for us as we prepare. We’ve been in hotly contested battles with this group in the past, and I see no reason why this weekend won’t be the same.
“There’s certainly a lot at stake.”
The Steelers and Ravens are both 6-6, fighting for first place in the AFC North.
The key this week is moving forward from Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, and everything associated with it, including some of the frustration from players that led to penalties.
“A component of moving on from that is executing better,” said Tomlin. “When you execute better, you make more plays, frustration becomes less of an issue. So certainly, first and foremost, as we lean in on this week, man, our focus is performing at a high level, doing a better job strategically, doing a better job of dividing the labor up, and then ultimately letting that lead to doing a better job of play.
“Really there’s a rhythm to it in recent weeks, particularly in Chicago and last week, but it doesn’t make it any easier, obviously, to identify and move on from. Certainly, when you have the lead at halftime and you’re getting the ball to come out to start the second half, there’s generally a good feel there, but we haven’t done enough with the football to start second halves, and we haven’t done enough to defend the grass once we turn the ball over. That could be descriptive of how things unfolded in Chicago, and it certainly is a description of how things unfolded last week. We talk about it, we learn from it, but equally as important, we roll our sleeves up and go to work.
“How do you get that synergy? How do you get the confidence? How do you get the cohesion required to win? You tighten up your plan. You delve into things that you’ve spent more time in and things that you hadn’t. You make sure that guys are in position to work in a coordinated fashion in all three phases.
“So, we’re making some very pointed decisions as we lay the foundation for this plan this week, but I imagine Baltimore is doing similar things.
“We both sit at 6-6. Both of those positions come with some scars certainly, but they need to come with some lessons learned as well. I think the team that displays the ability to apply those lessons best is going to be the team that’s going to be in position to control this game and thus be in control of the North.”