Ben Roethlisberger likens Mike Tomlin to Bill Belichick after Steelers' win vs. Ravens: "He is cooking in Harbaugh's kitchen"
Last Sunday, Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers assumed control of the AFC North division title race with a win over the Baltimore Ravens at Acrisure Stadium. The home team beat the visitors 18-16 without scoring a single touchdown, as kicker Chris Boswell went 6-for-6 on field goal attempts, while the defense kept Lamar Jackson and the Ravens' offense at bay.
Pittsburgh is now 8-2, 1.5 games ahead of the 7-4 Ravens in the division standings. Steelers great Ben Roethlisberger was thoroughly impressed with the team's game plan and the players' execution and claimed the credit for the win should go to Tomlin.
Roethlisberger said that the coach outwitted his counterpart John Harbaugh, which has been a recurring theme. On the "Footballin with Ben Roethlisberger" podcast on Wednesday, the retired star said:
"To be honest, I really think that Mike Tomlin's cooking in Harbaugh's kitchen. He's all up in here [his head]. Brownies. He's Chef Evan up there. He's cooking. I think Tomlin's out-coaching him...The way that Coach Belichick used to out-coach certain teams, it feels like that's what we're doing to them. We're just out-coaching them."
Mike Tomlin vs. John Harbaugh head-to-head record
Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh have faced off 33 times in the regular season and thrice in the playoffs since the latter took over as the Ravens' head coach in 2008. Harbaugh was in the lead until the 2020 season in their head-to-head duels, however, it's been one-way traffic since.
Tomlin and the Steelers have won eight of their last nine games against Harbaugh and the Ravens. The two teams have finished above each other twice in the last four years. However, Baltimore would have had a better record in each season had they not been so poor against Pittsburgh.
In the 2020 season, the Steelers won the AFC North with a 12-4 record, while the 11-5 Ravens finished second. Had Harbaugh's team won even one of its two games against Tomlin and Co., they would have been division champions.
The following season, neither team did particularly well, as the Steelers finished runners-up in the division title race to the 10-7 Cincinnati Bengals with a 9-7-1 record, while the 8-9 Ravens finished last.
However, one win over Pittsburgh would have helped Baltimore finish 9-8 and earn a playoff berth. But they lost both games and had their first losing season since 2015. Baltimore has not been able to crack the formula to beat their divisional rivals for five years and counting.