Prior to taking the field for the second half of their 33-18 win over the Browns at Heinz Field last Sunday, Mike Tomlin had a message for his team.
It was a simple one for a team leading 14-6 after the first half.
"Coach (Tomlin) really told us this was our first impression," Cameron Heyward said on his weekly call-in to WDVE-FM. "In the second half, we really tried to tee off and send a message. We really just tried to play 'bully ball.'"
Tomlin sent that message because the Browns have so many young players on their roster, including rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Sunday, the Steelers will try to take the same tack with an old, familiar foe. Sunday, they'll head to Baltimore and see if they can out-bully the Ravens, a team that pushed them around quite a bit in a 26-14 win at Heinz Field last month.
The Ravens (4-4) controlled the line of scrimmage, particularly with their defense in that game, limiting James Conner to a season-low 44 total yards -- 19 rushing and 25 receiving. It helped them accumulate a time of possession advantage of 35:03-24:57 as they ran 15 more plays than the Steelers (4-2-1).
The Steelers fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter but battled back to tie it at 14 at the half using their passing game. Despite that, they could never get Conner rolling like he has been, becoming the first player in team history to record 100 yards rushing with multiple touchdowns in three consecutive games.
"Oftentimes, the running game or opportunities in the running game, are controlled by game circumstance," Tomlin said Tuesday. "We got down by 14 and then we didn’t convert third downs in the second half, so we didn’t have enough snaps. That’s going to minimize the total number of carries, so you can paint whatever picture you want regarding the run game the last time we played them. It never came to fruition for a number of reasons."
Conner has proven to be a closer, averaging 6.8 yards per rushing attempt the past two games in wins over Cincinnati and Cleveland. But if he never gets started, it's hard to close.
Despite the lack of a true lead running back such as Conner, the Ravens picked up 96 yards on the ground in that game and -- more importantly -- didn't get themselves into a lot of third-and-long situations. Even when they did, they found a way to convert, picking up eight first downs on 17 attempts. That 47 percent conversion rate is right in line with what they've done this season. Their season conversion rate of 46.7 percent ranks fifth in the league.
The Steelers were just 2 of 12 on third down conversions in that game, as Ben Roethlisberger struggled to keep the team moving without the presence of any kind of running game. That won't be any easier this week as the Ravens are second in the NFL in pass defense, allowing 196 yards per game. Roethlisberger also is dealing with a fractured index finger on his left (non-throwing) hand.
Baltimore added another back to the mix Tuesday, sending a 2020 seventh-round draft pick to Green Bay for converted receiver Ty Montgomery.
The Steelers, meanwhile, stood pat at the trade deadline, which came and went at 4 p.m., perhaps hoping their biggest addition would be a running back of their own.
Now that the trade deadline has passed, there is some speculation Le'Veon Bell could return to the team as early as Wednesday morning and play out the final season of his contract with the team under the franchise tag.
Even if that does happen, he's unlikely to play Sunday in Baltimore, especially since Conner leads the AFC with 599 rushing yards.
And defensively, the Ravens have the pass rushers to make things miserable if you fall behind. While they don't have a player ranked in the top-10 in the league in sacks -- Terrell Suggs leads the way with 5.5 -- they have gotten to opposing quarterbacks an NFL-best 27 times. The Steelers are tied for second with 24 sacks.
But Tomlin believes the Steelers are being more physical now than they were earlier in the season.
They've won their past three games since losing to the Ravens. But the physicality test always comes against Baltimore.
"I like to think that that’s the case, and this is why – I think that the better you have an understanding of your job, the better that you have an understanding of how your job fits into the bigger picture, there’s a couple things that happen," Tomlin said when asked if his team's physicality has improved. "The more that you communicate, the faster people play, and I think good communication and fast play produces physicality. It produces certainty in movement, and I think that allows guys to play fast and free and thus, more physical."