Steelers-Ravens: 3 Keys to victory

Hello, all. After a bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in action against the hated Dirty Birds. Pittsburgh has lost two in a row and has just a one game lead in the woeful AFC North. So, a win today would be pretty damn important. Here are three things that Pittsburgh can do to ensure that this happens.

Key #1: Ben be Ben (or at least not Landry)

Ben Roethlisberger is "questionable" for today's game. But let's be real; he's going to play. The question is; how good is #7 going to be? The Steelers tend to struggle whenever Roethlisberger first comes back off the shelf, and I think this is because of rust. The Ravens pass defense is ranked 6th in football according to NFL.Com, so points will be hard to get. Nonetheless, I'd take a rusty Ben Roethlisberger over a healthy Landry Jones or Zach Mettenberger.

Odds of exuction: OK

Key #2: Ring the Bell

Because we don't know how good Big Ben is going to be, Le'Veon Bell is still the most important part of the Steelers offense. In my opinion, Todd Haley should still look to run the ball a lot and throw plenty of screens to #26, almost as if Landry Jones is playing QB. Unfourtanly, Baltimore's run defense is ranked 4th in football, also according to NFL.Com.
Odds of Exuction: Moderate

Key #3: Feed off of Cam Heyward 

Photo creds to CBS Sports

Guess who's back? Back again? Heyward's back. Tell a friend.

The heart and soul of the Pittsburgh defense makes his triumphant return. Cam Heyward is back, baby, and hopefully, this means the Steelers can stop the run. Also, Heyward is the emotional leader of the defense, and his presence will make everyone else better. Hopefully, Cam's talk about how the Steelers D ''quit'' two weeks ago against New England will light a fire under this unit. Heyward's return could be huge if the Steelers allow it to be.

Odds of exuction: Solid 

Final Prediction 
I'll be blunt here at say that this game has disappointment written all over it. Recently, the Steelers have not done well in Roethlisberger's first game back (Cincy last year, Chargers in 2012). Pittsburgh has also struggled to beat Baltimore recently, and they are playing on the road, which of course does not help things.

I don't know if you can call this a trap game, as the Steelers are just one game better than the hated dirty birds. But I think you can call this a loss. A rusty Roethlisberger going against a solid defense in a hostile environment will be too much for this Steelers team to handle.

Ravens 27, Steelers 17