Injuries happen when AFC North rivals get together

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Maybe it’s a coincidence. After all, as the Pittsburgh Steelers regularly point out, the injury rate in the NFL is 100 percent.

Still, it seems when the Steelers face the Cincinnati Bengals, one of the key guys in black-and-gold tends to be carted off the field after taking a shot from the guys in white, orange and black.

Three years ago it was tight end Heath Miller, who tore his right ACL after getting hit low by Bengals safety Reggie Nelson. Last December, All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell hyperextended his right knee and was forced to sit out a playoff loss a week later to Baltimore.

When the teams met in Pittsburgh six weeks ago, Bell’s season ended when his right leg twisted awkwardly underneath him while being tackled by Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict. The Steelers took exception when Burfict made little effort to disguise his glee as Bell clutched his knee in pain. Pittsburgh linebacker Vince Williams and Burfict traded heated tweets in the aftermath, and the residue of the Bengals’ 16-10 win will almost certainly resurface in the rematch on Sunday in Cincinnati.

“They said some things, we said some things,” linebacker Arthur Moats said. “We don’t like them. They don’t like us.”

Williams later deleted his side of the exchange with Burfict, though that doesn’t mean he’s over what happened. While Pittsburgh has found a way to stay in the middle of the playoff race without Bell — who said he didn’t take particular exception to the hit — Williams isn’t ready to exonerate the Bengals.

“I can’t sit up here and call them dirty players,” Williams said. “I just see what I see.”

And what Williams saw on Nov. 1 bothered him, though he and Bell don’t sit around and talk about retribution.

“We just focus on him trying to get better,” Williams said. “We just focus on his recovery.”

Cincinnati can clinch the AFC North with a win and has the inside track for home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Bengals aren’t exactly eager to get into any extracurricular stuff, though cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick is only too happy to keep an eye out for Burfict, who isn’t exactly one to keep his thoughts to himself.

“We know what time it is, we know what type of game this is,” Kirkpatrick said. “Hopefully we can keep our composure, hopefully he can keep his composure, and let them be the village idiots.”