As expected, the showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens was as physical and emotional as they always are. A real old-school slugfest between two teams that hated each other with the Steelers coming out on top 18-16. The win helped the Steelers hold onto the top spot in the AFC North as they improved to 8-2 on the season. There is a lot of unpack from the win so here are our initial takeaways.

It's almost like throwing to the middle of the field is a good thing

For whatever reason, OC Arthur Smith and quarterback Russell Wilson seem completely opposed to throwing to the middle of the field but on Sunday, when they needed it, Wilson did make a few nice throws between the hashes. When you have huge tight ends like Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, not using the middle of the field is borderline criminal.

Bad Russell Wilson is bad

For all of the first half and a solid chunk of the second, Russell Wilson was awful. He looked scared, was holding the football far too long and did not look like a guy worthy of replacing Justin Fields in the starting lineup. Wilson was inaccurate last week and against the Ravens, and got bailed out. This week was more of the same.

Donte Jackson almost gave it all away

The Steelers are too thin at cornerback for bad play from the starters and Jackson nearly gave the game away on two plays. This stretch of games offers zero margin for error and the team cannot afford a repeat of Sunday's performance.

Chris Boswell is the team's MVP

We've said it for years that kicker Chris Boswell is the most consistent scoring threat on the Steelers roster and he proved it again on Sunday with six field goals.

Patrick Queen payback game

Last week we saw linebacker Patrick Queen have his best game since joining the Steelers and on Sunday he made it personal. Queen finished with 10 total tackles and huge play where he forced a fumble and recovered it to give the Steelers a huge swing in momentum.

That Justin Fields package

After teasing it for a month, the Steelers finally broke out the Justin Fields package and it worked. Ok, Fields' slide was a misstep but make no mistake, there are things he brings to the table that Wilson just cannot do. Now that Fields is healthy, we want to see a lot more of him on the field.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: 5 big takeaways from the Steelers thrilling win