Mike Tomlin leans into Patrick Queen revenge game ahead of Ravens-Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers made a flurry of transactions during the offseason and before the trade deadline, but one of them proved to be far more controversial than the rest. The Steelers made middle linebacker Patrick Queen the richest free-agent signing in franchise history with a three-year, $41 million contract. 

Many of Queen’s former teammates believed he had crossed enemy lines when he signed on the dotted line. Queen formerly played for the Baltimore Ravens, who just happen to be Pittsburgh’s most bitter rival in the chippy AFC North division.

"This actually hurts me," Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey posted on social media after the signing.

Queen, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic about trading Charm City’s purple and black for Steel City’s black and gold. Queen embraced the villain role and spent the offseason taking verbal jabs at the Ravens organization and the city of Baltimore.

Mike Tomlin is feeding into Patrick Queen’s revenge game

Queen will finally have an opportunity to carry out the villain role on the field as the Steelers prepare to host the Ravens for a divisional showdown at Acrisure Stadium in Week 11. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about Queen’s revenge game, and he only fed into the hype.

“I'm going to send him out for the coin toss, if that gives you any indication,” Tomlin said of Queen’s revenge game. “Motivation is good. We're human, and everyone wants to feel wanted. And so I'd imagine it's not only a motivation this week, but it's probably been a motivation for him every week.”

Queen upset plenty of Baltimore fans with his offseason comments about his former team. The former Raven said the Steelers give him a better opportunity to win and later told reporters a slew of reasons why he loves Pittsburgh more than Baltimore — the atmosphere, the people, the food, the coach, the defense and so forth.

The 24-year-old linebacker may be justified to feel betrayed by Baltimore, who drafted him in the first-round of the 2020 NFL Draft. The Ravens declined to pick up Queen’s fifth-year option last offseason. Instead, the team traded for Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith and made him the highest-paid off-ball linebacker in NFL history. Queen recently revealed that the Ravens never even made him an offer when he entered free agency. 

“Particularly those that you do business with, that you work shoulder-to-shoulder with every day, you want to be appreciated,” Tomlin said. “And obviously [the Ravens] chose to move in a different direction. And if you're right minded and grown and mature about it, you utilize that as good fuel, as motivation and focus, and that's what l've discovered about [Queen] since he's been here. He's taken what seemingly is a negative and he's made it a positive in that it's been really motivating for him day to day to be the best that he can be and have a good relationship with us.”

Baltimore only won two playoff games during Queen’s tenure with the team, but Pittsburgh has failed to make it past the AFC Wild Card Round in their last three playoff berths. Heading into their Week 11 clash, both teams are vying for first place in the division with seven wins each.

The winner of this pivotal game will hold a significant advantage in ultimately emerging as the division winner.