If ______, the Steelers will win

If the Ravens allow Charlie Batch to establish a rhythm versus the Ravens' secondary, the Steelers will win tomorrow afternoon.

Joe Flacco and the offense will not score many points so the defense must do their part and keep a lid on the Steelers offense.

With Troy Polamalu playing at safety, the Steelers have the best turnover ratio in the league with +6. The Ravens show up on the opposite end of the spectrum with the worse turnover ratio in the league with -6. I can almost guarantee that Flacco will throw at least one interception but I can't guarantee he will lead the offense to the end zone.

Charlie Batch has been unbelievably productive at the quarterback position ever since Dennis Dixon injured his knee in week 2 at Tennessee. He put up three touchdowns and a 106.5 passer rating against the 2-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Obviously, Tampa's defense is no comparison to Baltimore's number one ranked defense.

Although no one on the Ravens' defense has snagged an interception, they have only allowed a league best average of 116.7 passing yards this year. The biggest vulnerability they possess is run defense, or lack thereof. Last week's efforts against Peyton Hills and the rest of the Cleveland Browns' offense were pathetic, giving up 173 total rushing yards.

Young running back Rashard Mendenhall has already collected 332 yards on the ground in three games, an average of 110.66 yards/game. With Baltimore's run defending weaknesses, Mendenhall will have a generous outing but not like the 143 yards of last week.

Tomorrow spectators will gather in Heinz Field and watch a low scoring game. Neither team is leaps and bounds better and both defenses have pride to uphold so it will be a hard hitting battle of field position and turnovers.

This is why the Steelers will be victorious Sunday afternoon as their defense has thrived on creating turnovers so far this year, running the ball with Mendenhall and tactically using the play action pass to generate big plays.