Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 keys to a Week 14 win over the Ravens

The Pittsburgh Steelers made it out of Cincinnati with a come from behind Monday night win and are en route to a Sunday night showdown against the Ravens. One rival down, here’s how to beat then next one.

It’s rivalry month for Pittsburgh apparently. The Steelers are currently sitting pretty at 10-2. While a playoff birth is near inevitable, you’re going to want home field advantage. How do they do such a thing?

Have a better record than the Pats. But first beat the Ravens. Don’t look ahead. The Steelers are in a relatively tough run of their relatively easy schedule and they want to beat the Ravens and build some momentum toward that Patriots game.

The Steelers looked dead set on succumbing to that ‘lose to a mediocre team on the road’ tendency of theirs but they fought it off and they need to keep defying traditional expected shortcomings. Yes, the Pats, but I’m talking more about beating the Ravens twice. No matter how good or bad one team or the other is doing it seems the Steelers-Ravens games are 1 each for every season.

The Ravens are a solid team this year. They’re 7-5, firmly in the playoff hunt after 3 straight wins, and their defense is playing very well. They’re third in the league at pass defense (right behind the Steelers). They’re 7^th in the league in sacks and first in interceptions. They’ve got 20 interceptions so far. They may have lost a bit relative to previous years but there’s still a lot left, particularly on defense.

But it’s that rivalry factor that makes these stats almost secondary. It’s about who comes in with a the best mindset and game plan for that day. Records don’t matter when the Steelers play the Ravens. But they will after the game so how can Pittsburgh get to 11 wins?