Steelers WR Juju Smith-Schuster says Bengals made 'major threats' at him
The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday 28-21 for their seventh win in a row against their AFC North rivals, and plenty was said between the two feuding teams after the game.
Despite the loss, Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said the Steelers "ain't better than us. Period.”
But the biggest post-game sound bite came from Pittsburgh wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster who said "major threats" were made toward him on the field.
“They were all making threats at me. Dropping f-bombs. Everything. (Vontaze) Burfict was out there lying saying I spit on him, which I didn’t," said Smith-Schuster. "Most physical game I’ve been in."
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The Steelers' second-year star said the defense was “coming after all of us,” which included a fair share of trash talk that isn't uncommon given the bad blood in recent years between the two teams.
In an AFC Wild Card game in 2016, Burfict leveled wide receiver Antonio Brown with a hit to his head that resulted in the linebacker being suspended for the first three games of the following season for repeated violations of player-safety rules. He even took another questionable shot at Brown on Sunday.
That said, it wasn't all bad on the field, especially between Smith-Schuster and Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap.
“Dunlap was hella cool," said Smith-Schuster. "He was talking about video games. That was pretty cool, man.”
The two meet again in the final game of the regular season in Pittsburgh.