Let’s just get this out of the way now: Charlie Batch is not that old.

Yesterday, as the Pittsburgh Steelers were shellacking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Love Chucky, Hate Glazer) down in Florida, the talk on Twitter was just how old Charlie Batch was — all while he was flinging highlight-reel touchdown passes to Mike Wallace.

Maybe 35 is old in NFL terms, but let’s put this in perspective. Batch is five years younger than Brett Favre and two years younger than Kerry Collins, the dude who was brought in off the bench to save the Titans against Pittsburgh in Week 2. Yeah, how did that work out?

Batch is also only 13 months older than Peyton Manning and only two years older than Donovan McNabb, and you don’t see anyone calling those two old. Plus, because Batch has been a backup for so long, he has far fewer miles on him than either Manning or McNabb.

More importantly, Batch gave the Steelers something they desperately needed — a legitimate deep passing threat. After completing those long bombs to Wallace, the Bucs had to respect the pass. This freed up Rashard Mendenhall to have his best game so far this season (19 carries, 143 yards, 1 TD) and helped the Steelers’ defense dominate even more than usual. Defense still powers the Pittsburgh Steelers. Same as it ever was.

So while Charlie Batch is holding down the fort for the Steelers’ offense as it waits for its douche-tastic hero to return, let’s not make him out to be a contemporary of Y.A. Tittle. Charlie Batch handed the ball off to Barry Sanders, not Spec Sanders. Oh, by the way, the Steelers are 3-0. Guess who gets the last laugh today.