Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Tomlin Tuesday

The Steelers have a chance to lock up the AFC North Division title if they can take care of business against the Ravens on Christmas Day.

Head coach Mike Tomlin took to the microphone on Tuesday afternoon to wrap up the latest victory over the Bengals, update any injury statuses, breakdown the upcoming game against the Ravens and answer questions.

The theme of Sunday’s 24-20 win over the Bengals was overcoming adversity. Tomlin acknowledged that some of the adversity was self-induced but they came out in the second half against Cincy and shut them out.

Tomlin thanked the efforts of Lawrence Timmons, with the clutch interception that turned out to be the game’s only turnover.

Tomlin also praised the efforts of kicker Chris Boswell. Boswell was a perfect six-of-six for field goals and also made a significant tackle on a kickoff that provided some blades of grass to defend as Tomlin would say.

Injuries

The injuries are what they are for this time of the year. Many thought that after a week of partial practice participation that DeAngelo Williams would have made his return to the field against the Bengals but Tomlin noted that he was a scratch due to some swelling that appeared in Cincy.

Williams will be a participant this week and should be expected to be a green light this Sunday. Darrius Heyward-Bey is working his way back and his practice participation will be the guide as will Shamarko Thomas’.

Stephon Tuitt suffered a knee injury in-game that has thankfully turned out to be not as bad as initially feared. Tomlin described it as a “knee sprain” and said that Tuitt will have the opportunity to play this week based on how his knee responds to work in practice.

Tight end Ladarius Green is in the concussion protocol, which requires him to be cleared by the NFL’s independent concussion specialist before he can play. So that kind of blows. Hopefully Green is ok considering his concussion history in San Diego.

Breaking down the Ravens

As far as the Ravens are concerned we really don’t need to go through Tomlin praising the efforts of guys like Joe Flacco and Terrell Suggs and such. This is the real AFC North rivalry game, not the punk fight the Bengals try to turn our games into.

This is a game that can clinch the AFC North for the Steelers and remind the Ravens who really runs the north. We don’t need to talk up Mike Wallace and the Hines Ward-wannabe Steve Smith to really get the intensity of this game.

On top of that this game is being played on Christmas Day, and in case you forgot, it’s the Color Rush game where Pittsburgh will wear the all-black jerseys.

Questions

Tomlin was asked about the 3-of-9 success rate on two-point conversions and if that has affected his confidence and you can probably guess his answer. Bring on more two point tries! YOLO!

Tomlin was hesitant to confirm if the team would look into signing an additional defensive lineman if in case Tuitt’s knee injury sidelines him this weekend so hopefully that is more good news about the severity of the knee injury.

Playing on Christmas day has been pretty rare in the NFL considering how the Thanksgiving games are now considered a staple part of the holiday. The NFL has two games on Christmas this year with Pittsburgh and Baltimore starting things off and Denver and Kansas City finishing it off in prime time.

Tomlin is a football junkie so he explained how the takes it as an honor to coach a game in a national spotlight like a holiday game and while he called for Steeler Nation to be loud and proud for the last home game against the Giants he said that he expects us out again for this important game.

The team will be decked out in all-black outfits so it would be a good time to have a black-out for Christmas at Heinz Field! What do you think Steeler Nation? Let the only pop of color be the Terrible Towels! We know how powerful they can be.

Next: Recapping the win over the Bengals

Only a couple of “Obviously” on Tuesday, we might have to have a new word or catch phrase.

You can listen to Tomlin’s entire presser right here.

Bring on the Ratbirds! Here we go Steelers! Here we go!