Cam Heyward took his bruises to The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday and entered them into evidence.
"Double teaming, sliding, chipping, are those not allowed in our game?" the Steelers defensive tackle said after Eisen played a clip of Jared Verse. "Yeah, I got the bruises to prove it. But we don't whine about it, baby. It's part of the game."
Verse lit this fuse in the Browns' locker room on Oct. 1. Twenty-six days later it hit a national show, and two days after that Verse came back for more. Each man has landed a shot.
The clip Eisen played
After Cleveland beat Pittsburgh, Verse went after the blocking first: "Y'all double teaming, y'all sliding, y'all garbage." Then he widened it.
"I don't got no respect for anybody that plays too dirty, and that does too much extra s— after the game," he told reporters. He closed by booking the rematch: "I'm going to put that one on the calendar. I can't wait to get my hands on them again."
That's two complaints, one about scheme and one about conduct.
Heyward answered one of them
On the blocking, Heyward wins in a walk. "I'm checking the rule book real quick," he told Eisen. "Those are legal."
The second charge got nothing. Heyward never touched the extra stuff after the game. He skipped it and went to the warning that made the headlines: "But those are words that were said and they will be addressed."
He didn't belittle Cleveland, though, and that's the part of the interview worth keeping. "Everybody likes to talk about the Myles Garrett. That does not matter with this team," he said, before crediting Deshaun Watson, Harold Fannin, Quinshon Judkins and an "electric" defense. As for the five-sack night in Week 4: "They got a W. That's a W. But that has no indication on what the next game is, and the next game is them."
Todd Monken has conceded his side's part in that game, too. There were moments, he said Monday, when "we did go across the line." Denzel Ward, asked the dirty question straight up, gave a careful answer. Mike McCarthy prefers to talk about the line of scrimmage.
Verse isn't backing off
Heyward added another round Wednesday: "If you're looking for words for juice, you're in the wrong league. This game, AFC North, that's what it's about. Everybody talks, but it's about walking."
Verse's reply came Thursday. "I'm just going in there ready to dominate." A reporter told defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg that same day that Verse "said he's not backing down, he just wants to get out there and play," then asked whether the two would talk about keeping his emotions in check. Rutenberg kept that private: "I trust our players immensely."
Verse practiced Thursday after sitting out Wednesday with swelling in his knee, so Heyward will know where to find him.
"It's a five-star matchup because we're in it, as Mike T (Tomlin) would say. So bring it on."
Image: AI-generated image.
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