NFL Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Steelers Will Recover from Week 1 Massacre

Even the greatest teams in NFL history have had their lunch fed to them.

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers came into a Week 1 clash with their hated rivals in Baltimore with a lot of bluster.The Steelers looked down at the Ravens, who have struggled to unseat the Steel Curtain in recent years.

The defending AFC champs were cocky, and they were promptly knocked back to reality. Baltimore jumped out early and ran away with the game, pressuring Ben Roethlisberger and making life miserable on both sides of the ball. It was an ugly defeat for a team that clearly wasn't ready to play at kickoff.

It was the complete opposite of everything Steelers football is, and Mike Tomlin will make sure it doesn't happen again. There are few coaches better at getting in a team's ear than Tomlin, and he will have the Steelers ready to take out their frustrations next Sunday.

Pittsburgh simply has too much talent to suffer a Super Bowl hangover that lasts longer than this week. Roethlisberger and his plethora of offensive weapons will eventually get on the same page and you always know what you're going to get from the defense.

The offensive line, as always, is a reason for concern, but the Steelers have gotten by for years with this handicap.

Baltimore is a good team—better than most thought coming into the season—and Father Time hasn't caught up to Ray Lewis and company just yet. Pittsburgh clearly thought it could show up and get it done. Against a hated rival, that's the last thing you can do, and the Steelers paid for their hubris.

If Pittsburgh wants to get back to the Super Bowl, it has to get back to playing hard-nosed football and leave the trash talk at home. That isn't who the Steelers are, and the sooner they find their identity, the better.

If they don't, then it's going to be a long season filled with nothing but disappointment for one of the league's model franchises.