The dynamics of the AFC North appear to be rapidly changing, with the Steelers-Ravens rivalry no longer the division's most heated.
The Steelers defeated the Bengals in one of the most violent games of the season Monday, which led to a suspension for Steelers rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster and a fine for Bengals safety George Iloka.
Ahead of his matchup with the Ravens, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger noted a major difference between his rivalries with Baltimore and Cincinnati.
"The difference between this game and the Cincinnati game is these two teams - us and Baltimore - there's always a respect involved in it," Roethlisberger told ESPN's Jamison Hensley. "You're going to get hit really hard or you're going to hit somebody really hard, but you're going to help them up and say, 'Man, nice job.'
"At the end of it, you're going to shake hands and give the other guy a hug and say that was a lot of fun and can't wait to do it next year. It's a fun rivalry in the sense that there's a lot of respect and there are two good football teams."
The bad blood between the Steelers and Bengals has been brewing for years, stemming from a 2015 wild-card game in which Vontaze Burfict delivered a concussion-causing late hit on Antonio Brown. Players from both teams lobbed verbal jabs at each other throughout the 2016 season, and it doesn't seem like a truce is coming anytime soon.
