The standard is the standard. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Who doesn’t love a good Tomlinism?  I plucked this beauty from his Tuesday press conference in which he stated how the Steelers would be heading into Ravens week without the services of Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Marcus Gilbert, and possibly Antonio Brown.  Now Polamalu and Gilbert have been gone for a few weeks now and Brown could possibly be missing his second game Sunday night if he’s not able to practice Friday but the most glaring name on the injury list is that of Ben Roethlisberger.  It has already been announced that Dougie Fresh (Byron Leftwich) will be the starter against the Ravens on Sunday night.  When Tomlin was asked how his team plans to deal with the barrage of injuries that has afflicted them including the starting quarterback he responded with,

“We just focus on the healthy guys; the injuries are what they are.  We’re not looking to make excuses.  Excuses are the tools of the incompetent.”

This is much bigger now than the “next man up” policy that has been talked to death by now.  This is more of an “every man up” mentality and any other cliché this Steelers team needs to take on in order to make the necessary plays to beat the Ravens and gain control of the division for the first time since the 2010 season.  The Steelers defense has had to make up for the loss of Troy Polamalu, who has been sidelined with a calf injury for the majority of the season, to be the statistical #1 ranked defense in the league.  It’s taken the efforts of players like Lawrence Timmons, LaMarr Woodley, Will Allen, and who I think is so far the DPOY for the Steelers; Ryan Clark.  Clark will be on the field playing Sunday night in spite of suffering another concussion Monday night against the Chiefs.  Clark passed all the league required concussion tests and participated in full practice on Thursday. (more…)