Both the Ravens and Steelers head into Sunday afternoon’s game with seven wins, so there’s a lot on the line before even delving into the individual stories.

One of the juicier subplots on that front involves Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen. Queen spent his first four seasons with the Ravens, but signed with the Steelers as a free agent this offseason and said this week that the Ravens never offered a deal that would have kept him in Baltimore.

The Queen said that “will have feelings” during Sunday’s game, and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin hopes to channel those feelings into a positive outcome for his team.

“I’m going to send him to the coin toss, if that’s any indication,” Tomlin told Bob Labriola of the team’s website. “The motivation is good. We are human and everyone wants to feel wanted. And so I would imagine it’s not just a motivation this week, but it’s probably been a motivation for him every week. Especially those with whom you do business, with whom you work shoulder to shoulder every day, you want to be appreciated. And obviously they chose to move in a different direction. And if you’re fair, you’ve grown and matured about it, you use it as good fuel, as motivation and focus, and that’s what I’ve found about PQ since he’s been here. He took what seems like a negative and turned it into a positive because it was really motivating for him day in and day out to be the best he can be and have a good relationship with us.”

The Ravens and Queen know each other well, and whichever side can better use that to their advantage should have an advantage in Sunday’s battle for pole position in the AFC North.