Le'Veon Bell. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Kovacevic: Back to football, back to running over the Ravens

By Dejan Kovacevic

Dec 10, 2017 • 1:00 am

5.4K

Over in that quirky corner of the Steelers' locker room where all three of the citizens -- Antonio Brown, James Harrison and Vince Williams -- speak to reporters only on Fridays, presumably as some sort of pact, Williams had just completed maybe the most challenging media session of his career. After which he plopped down on his stool, exhaled and stared straight ahead.

I approached, very much informally, set my hand on his right shoulder and asked how he was doing.

You know why. He knew why.

But no sooner did he begin to raise some wide eyes my way than I quickly followed up by asking about winning that freaking Michael's card if he can somehow outduel his neighbors in a Christmas lights competition.

That means this, if you're not exactly a social media bug ...

This only about half of what I got coming!Post your pics! I'll be picking houses with the best lights to give tickets away to for the Pats game @steelers @#Lightshow pic.twitter.com/aM825WDKCR
— Vincenzo Williams (@VinnyVidiVici98) December 6, 2017

"That card," Vinnie vowed, smiling once he saw I wasn't touching the other topic, "is mine."

Not another syllable was spoken. In fact, as I proceeded to canvass that room, I felt somewhat surprised, and maybe a little guilty, that my focus had just flipped completely to football.

Don't misunderstand. Please don't.

Ryan Shazier is everywhere with this group, from the Rooney Sports Complex all week long to Heinz Field tonight when about 15 Steelers will take the field against the Ravens wearing commemorative cleats in his honor:

ANTONIO BROWN SNAPCHAT

John Harbaugh and the Ravens have kept Shazier in their prayers, as well.

Everywhere. He's everywhere.

And yet, in the same stream of thought, cliched as this could come across, all concerned, from the impressively composed, controlled Mike Tomlin on down to the 53rd man on the roster, have no choice but to move on toward football.

In spite of what we witnessed Monday night at Paul Brown Stadium, when the Steelers were virtual ghosts through the rest of the first half after Shazier's departure, that's no way to be on a football field. As illustrated painfully by Shazier's injury and other lesser ones through that night, that concentration, that intensity ... it just isn't optional. Intentional or not, someone will do damage to the player with his head down or looking the wrong way. Casual doesn't cut it.

And when facing Baltimore, the above paragraph might as well be published in bold-faced neon. Some rivalries are manufactured. What the Steelers have with the Ravens and even the miscreant doormats in Cincinnati, that's real. There's a bona fide triangle of animosity between these three franchises.

"Oh, it's real," Maurkice Pouncey was telling me across the room from Williams. "Very real. You can ask anyone on any side. There aren't any teams in the NFL you'd rather beat."

Not even the Patriots?

"It's Baltimore week."

It sure is. And to hear so many of Shazier's teammates tell it, his own admonition shared with his fellow Steelers has been based on that very same statement.

So here we go, as they say ...

As close and competitive as this matchup has tended to be -- 12 of the 19 meetings since 2008 have been decided by three points or less -- there's been at least one firmly established formula for the Steelers' success since drafting Le'Veon Bell in 2013:

Hand the man the ball, huh?

Three times up there, you'll see Bell carrying the ball 20-plus times, and all three times he dominated. The lone loss out of those, back in 2015, came with Michael Vick at quarterback.

I find this facet worth circling this particular week, for a couple reasons:

1. "I love when we can run well against Baltimore."

That was Le'Veon's line to me when I brought this up. Good for him. He might never have run harder than he did Monday in Cincinnati, knowing full well the Bengals would clock him rather than tackle him. Having that attitude heading into a potential sequel speaks volumes about the kind of football player -- never mind running back -- he's become.

2. This is potentially perfect.

I can't think of anything that would be more welcome for the Steelers right now than steamrolling a Baltimore defense that, in this ongoing three-game streak, has seen the Packers run 25 times for 75 yards, the Texans 25 times for 66 yards, the Lions 24 times for 78 yards.

Three yards a pop the whole way through.

That'll make for quite the challenge, right?

Hm. One would get the sense there of great confidence. Or, at the very least, like Bell, Pouncey and the rest of the big boys on the line would seriously enjoy a downhill roll all evening long.

"Oh, man, it really would," David DeCastro told me before really getting to the heart of this. "It's one of those cultural things, I think, on their end, where they're really, really set on stopping the run. That's their mindset, and it makes sense. John Harbaugh's kind of a fiery guy, they're a defense-first team, and that's how they've been for a while. So yeah, you appreciate it when you can do that."

All the more because of the massive machismo that collides in this series at the head coach level. Never forget that, time after time, it's not enough for one team to win. They've got to win their way. Tomlin and Todd Haley might be guiltier of this than their counterparts, repeatedly running into the Baltimore front even when Harbaugh lines up, what, 12 or 13 men in the box?

The Ravens might go down tonight, per their lesser record and underdog status, but it sure won't be because they let Bell loose.

Vance McDonald, though a relative newcomer to the rivalry, stressed a similar point.

"What I've seen just this season, especially from their film during this streak of theirs, is that this is their point of pride, stopping the run. So from our side, getting a running game going -- and I'm talking about the very first run -- that'll be everything for us."

Wait, the first run?

"Definitely. That's kind of a low-key thing that a lot of people don't talk about, but we don't want to be forced into the pass. They're No. 1 in the NFL in takeaways for a reason. So it's on us. It's on the goons."

Wait again, goons?

"The goons, man. The goons. That's what Coach T calls us guys up front, and he says this is on the goons. It's up to us to break them down that way, make that a big momentum swing for us."

OK, but on the first run?

"That's the part people don't talk about. You want that first run to be a good one. It's so huge. If you throw an incomplete pass, it's like, no big deal, we'll just try another. But if you have a minimal gain on that first run, especially at home, it can suck the life right out of the place. Nobody wants that."

And if it goes well?

"The fun begins."

No one on this side of the rivalry would complain about that. Not this week.

WHAT'S BREWING

• Our Christmas gift subscriptions are now on sale!

• Our PiratesFest coverage yesterday saw Lance Lysowski keep a live file going all day, then deliver one, two, three, four and five full articles. It's always an exceptionally newsy day each year, as it's the first time one sees the Pirates' people in months. Lance did exceptional work.

• While I focused on football, Matt Gajtka and Chris Bradford rolled out their usual extensive coverage of the Penguins' loss to the Maple Leafs last night at PPG Paints Arena.

• This weekend's Site Stuff updates the Christmas gift subscription drive, in addition to offering our new team photo, as well as background into some of our internal initiatives.

VIDEO

Gajtka and Bradford report from PPG Paints Arena: