Ready for a battle:This week will be a battle of two 5-6 teams when the Steelers and Ravens face each other on Thanksgiving night and there is one thing Jerricho Cotchery knows. It's going to be physical.
"Physically you have to be prepared for it," said Cotchery. "It's a tough game. You have to be in the right mindset mentally to step onto the field in this type of game. There aren't too many rivalries like it in the NFL. You have to embrace these types of games. It's always fun going out there, but at the same time it's a very physical and tough game."
The Steelers defeated the Ravens 19-16 in their first game of the season, and Cotchery knows it's going to be even tougher this time around.
"They are a tough team, we have to go into their place and look forward to a good battle," said Cotchery. "There is a lot on the line with this game like it always is when we play them. It always seems like whenever either team is trying to get somewhere, the other is in their way. It's that way this week as we are battling in the division and it's going to be a good game Thanksgiving night."
No time for playoff talk: After the first four games of the season, when the Steelers were 0-4, nobody was mentioning them when it came to playoff talk. But after 11 games the Steelers are one of the teams "in the hunt" for an AFC Wild Card spot.
The Steelers are one of six teams with a 5-6 record, and if the season were to end today they would be the seventh seed overall, leaving them out of the picture. But there are still five games to play and an opportunity to make the postseason still exists, even though you won't hear players talking about it.
"It's still early," said linebacker Lawrence Timmons. "We have to take it one game at a time. We have a long way to go. We are not focused on that. Winning is always good, I am not going to deny that. But we have to take it one game at a time."
The only thing Steelers players are focused on this week is the Baltimore Ravens, who are also 5-6.
"We can't even think about (playoffs) right now, especially on a short week," said center Fernando Velasco. "We just have to worry about the Ravens and take it one game at a time. It's true. That is our only focus. That is what I appreciate about being on this team. You can't get ahead of yourself. Even when we were 0-4, that's the way we took it."
