The Steelers are rolling, and it showed in their 23-16 win over the Ravens in Week 9

When you follow a football team for as long as I have the Steelers—39 years and counting (certainly not trying to impress with my fan “credentials”)—you get a sense of where it is at at any given time during the season.

Of course, you didn’t need 39 years of following a team to know Pittsburgh was in a sweet little spot as it traveled to Baltimore to take on the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Winners of three straight, the Steelers didn’t just right the ship after their 1-2-1 start, they looked very impressive in doing so—and on both sides of the ball, for good measure.

Yeah, sure, but the Ravens were the team that came into Heinz Field just five weeks earlier and handed Pittsburgh its third non-win in four games with a very methodical 26-14 road win on Sunday Night Football. In football—in most sports, really—the match-up makes the match, so why would things be different this time around—even if the Steelers were rolling and the Ravens were reeling?

Because, as I said just last week, a match-up also comes down to when the match is played, and the Steelers have figured some things out since that unfortunate performance on September 30.

It showed in the Steelers’ balanced attack on offense that included 282 yards through the air and 113 on the ground. It showed on third and fourth downs, where Pittsburgh was a very impressive 11 of 17. It once again showed in the protection afforded to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was only sacked once all day—and that came at the end of the game when taking a sack was preferable to throwing an incomplete pass that would have left the Ravens with way more than the 44 seconds they had to try a last-gasp attempt to get downfield and tie the score. It showed in time of possession, where the Steelers’ kept its always suspect until further notice defense off the field for 36:29.

Pittsburgh’s offensive attack may have started a little slow, with its first possession lasting six plays and resulting in zero points. But the next two possessions netted 21 plays, 136 yards and 14 points, which played a huge role in establishing a 14-6 halftime lead.

As for the defensive effort, while there may have been a few too many penalties—especially of the pass interference variety—it was all you could ask for, considering the Ravens only totaled 269 yards and found the end zone just once on the day.

Keith Butler’s unit didn’t harass quarterback Joe Flacco the entire afternoon, but the pressure was consistent and played a big part in holding Baltimore to just four conversions on 13 attempts on third and fourth downs.

Despite being slight road underdogs, to reiterate, you just had the sense the Steelers would take the action to Baltimore on Sunday and control things from beginning to end.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The victory improved the Steelers’ record to 5-2-1 on the year, while Baltimore dropped its third straight to fall to 4-5.

The Steelers are now at the halfway point of their 2018 campaign, and while it’s still relatively early, they certainly look like the team destined to win the AFC North yet again.

That all remains to be seen, of course, but the Steelers are clearly in a pretty sweet spot right now, and what they did to the Ravens on Sunday seemed pretty predictable at kickoff.