http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh...lugged-on-the-bengals-and-professional-hatred
PITTSBURGH -- Aside from Cam Heyward calling the Baltimore Ravens his chief rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers have generally played defense in the locker room this week to avoid making explosive comments about the Bengals.
DeAngelo Williams, fresh off an AFC offensive player of the week award after 143 yards and two scores at Washington, stepped to the plate with some fresh perspective on Bengals/Steelers. You should hear his words in full. And here we go.
On the Steelers' O-line: "They are making an old guy look good."
On benefits of a reasonable workload (1,658 carries in 10-plus years) : "The media can’t use those stats against me. That’s mainly what it is. It’s just kind of one of those things, if you can carry the load, you can carry the load. In this league now, you’ve got to have two backs to get you where you need to be."
On his 15-yard TD run: "All I had to do was do what running backs do. And that’s run."
On Bengals-Steelers "It’s a two-chinstrap game."
On expectations of the game: "Everybody knows the fines that are associated with this game. Everybody knows the professional hatred we have for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bengals have with us. Everybody’s heard the Twitter fights 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 vs. their will and we will see who breaks first.”
On intensity/nature of the rivalry: "It did surprise me. When I first got here, we can’t wait till Baltimore week, can’t wait till Baltimore week. And Baltimore is still a rival. That hasn’t changed. We just took on another one within the division. And we will never look over the Cleveland Browns."
On Cincy shockwaves: "I was like, 'Now, hold up now, the Cincinnati game we just played was crazy.' The second game happened and I was like 'Whoa, this was serious.' And then the media after the Twitter fights, the feuds and stuff like that, the fireworks during the playoffs, I knew then, 'Yeah, OK, it’s going to be serious. This is one of those games.' It’s definitely going to be one of those games come Sunday."
On advice for young players in this game: "Go have fun. This is what these games are all about. When it’s your will vs another person’s will, the worst thing you can do is smile in their face when you’re competing. That’s what I tell our guys. Go have fun."
On what he says to those who feel the rivalry is excessive: "They are not used to football. If you talk to all the old guys that played football, it was way worse than this right here. That’s why people came to love football. You don’t love hockey for the scores, you love hockey for the fights, right? Granted, this is not hockey and that’s not what I’m promoting here, fighting on the field, but you like it when two people generally really don’t like each other. You know you’re going to get the very best from both teams. And that’s what you’ll get Sunday."
On whether the playoff game crossed the line: "It absolutely crossed the line, but again, football is football. Anything in between the white lines is deemed football. Whenever you take football and you do something outside of the ordinary that’s not football related, you get called for that."
On how the game will be officiated: "You have to talk to Roger on that. We’re just going to show up. Those are his guys. If you have any questions about the refs, you have to @ him on twitter and ask Roger about those."
PITTSBURGH -- Aside from Cam Heyward calling the Baltimore Ravens his chief rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers have generally played defense in the locker room this week to avoid making explosive comments about the Bengals.
DeAngelo Williams, fresh off an AFC offensive player of the week award after 143 yards and two scores at Washington, stepped to the plate with some fresh perspective on Bengals/Steelers. You should hear his words in full. And here we go.
On the Steelers' O-line: "They are making an old guy look good."
On benefits of a reasonable workload (1,658 carries in 10-plus years) : "The media can’t use those stats against me. That’s mainly what it is. It’s just kind of one of those things, if you can carry the load, you can carry the load. In this league now, you’ve got to have two backs to get you where you need to be."
On his 15-yard TD run: "All I had to do was do what running backs do. And that’s run."
On Bengals-Steelers "It’s a two-chinstrap game."
On expectations of the game: "Everybody knows the fines that are associated with this game. Everybody knows the professional hatred we have for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Bengals have with us. Everybody’s heard the Twitter fights 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 vs. their will and we will see who breaks first.”
On intensity/nature of the rivalry: "It did surprise me. When I first got here, we can’t wait till Baltimore week, can’t wait till Baltimore week. And Baltimore is still a rival. That hasn’t changed. We just took on another one within the division. And we will never look over the Cleveland Browns."
On Cincy shockwaves: "I was like, 'Now, hold up now, the Cincinnati game we just played was crazy.' The second game happened and I was like 'Whoa, this was serious.' And then the media after the Twitter fights, the feuds and stuff like that, the fireworks during the playoffs, I knew then, 'Yeah, OK, it’s going to be serious. This is one of those games.' It’s definitely going to be one of those games come Sunday."
On advice for young players in this game: "Go have fun. This is what these games are all about. When it’s your will vs another person’s will, the worst thing you can do is smile in their face when you’re competing. That’s what I tell our guys. Go have fun."
On what he says to those who feel the rivalry is excessive: "They are not used to football. If you talk to all the old guys that played football, it was way worse than this right here. That’s why people came to love football. You don’t love hockey for the scores, you love hockey for the fights, right? Granted, this is not hockey and that’s not what I’m promoting here, fighting on the field, but you like it when two people generally really don’t like each other. You know you’re going to get the very best from both teams. And that’s what you’ll get Sunday."
On whether the playoff game crossed the line: "It absolutely crossed the line, but again, football is football. Anything in between the white lines is deemed football. Whenever you take football and you do something outside of the ordinary that’s not football related, you get called for that."
On how the game will be officiated: "You have to talk to Roger on that. We’re just going to show up. Those are his guys. If you have any questions about the refs, you have to @ him on twitter and ask Roger about those."
