At the moment, it feels like the Pittsburgh Steelers are facing an uphill battle against the Baltimore Ravens. Even though they split their series against the Ravens this year, the Steelers have been trending downward over the last few weeks. They’re massive underdogs this week, and most people believe they’ll be one-and-done in the playoffs again. However, former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long believes it might be a little quick to count Mike Tomlin out.
“Is there a path to them beating Baltimore?” Long asked recently on his podcast, Green Light with Chris Long. “I don’t know. I’ll work on that during the week, but I think it’s turnovers. It’s the way they won the first game. If Zay [Flowers] is not playing, things change a little bit.
“You get enough of these things happening, and all of a sudden, a team that’s a 10-point favorite finds themselves in a ballgame with a coach who likes to muddy it up. King Ugly is what I call him. He loves winning ugly, Mike Tomlin. He might have something in his bag.”
“King Ugly” might be one of the funnier nicknames for Tomlin, but it’s fitting. Maybe no one loves being in a dogfight more than Tomlin. It feels like the Steelers are always finding themselves part of nail-biters. They’ve lived and died in one-score games with Tomlin, and it seems like that’s the way they want it to be.
The Steelers’ first game against the Ravens this year is a perfect example. That game was anything but pretty. The Steelers barely scraped out a win, beating the Ravens 18-16. They didn’t score a single touchdown, relying on Chris Boswell to drill six field goals. As Long says, turnovers were key in that game, allowing the Steelers to halt the Ravens’ momentum.
That sounds like a recipe for success for them this week. Part of the reason the Steelers lost to the Ravens was because they lost the turnover battle. A few fumbles didn’t bounce their way, and Russell Wilson threw a brutal pick-six. Those were game-changing plays.
Unfortunately, the Ravens are also not afraid to win ugly. However, as Long mentioned, they could be without Zay Flowers, their best wide receiver. Even if Flowers plays and isn’t 100%, that’s huge for the Steelers. He put up five catches for 100 yards the last time they played.
It still seems like a longshot that the Steelers will win, but they aren’t hopeless. Their best chance of winning is in an ugly game. To do that, they need to protect the football and play stout defense. They did one of those things last week. If their offense doesn’t get back on track, this game might be ugly for the Steelers for all the wrong reasons.
