If one team has dominated another, can it really be a “rivalry”?
When it comes to the Bengals and Steelers, the answer is an emphatic yes, according to Pittsburgh running back DeAngelo Williams. In fact, Williams chose words much stronger than "rivalry" to describe how the teams feel about one another.
"Everybody knows the professional hatred we have for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bengals have with us," Williams said, per ESPN. "Everybody's heard the Twitter fight and things of that nature that we've had in the offseason. Guess what? This Sunday, that comes to a head, and the cameras will be watching. It will be our will versus their will, and we will see who breaks first."
The Steelers host Cincinnati on Sunday, with the Bengals’ implosion in last season’s playoff game against their AFC North rivals still fresh in everyone’s minds.
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This summer, Williams and Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict engaged in a heated exchange on Twitter. Burfict won’t be on the field Sunday, as he’s serving a three-game suspension for illegal hits, many of which were against Pittsburgh. Also, there were over $200,000 in fines doled out for transgressions during last season's three Bengals-Steelers games.
Williams, who played the first nine seasons of his career in Carolina, said he wasn’t aware how intense things were between Pittsburgh in Cincinnati until he joined the Steelers last year. "Whoa, this is serious," Williams thought after two games against the Bengals.
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Meanwhile, some Steelers, including QB Ben Roethlisberger, are downplaying the “rivalry” characterization ahead of Sunday’s clash. Pittsburgh has beaten the Bengals in six of the last seven meetings, 10 of the last 13, 15 of the last 20. Really, talk of these teams being rivals typically comes from Cincinnati’s mouths.
The NFL, though, will have a close eye on Sunday’s game, as the league’s head of officiating, Dean Blandino, told ESPN that game officials will have a “heightened awareness” during the game.