Big Ben: Burfict told JuJu 'You're next' after hit on Brown

Just how fierce is the rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals? Players say threats were uttered between plays during Sunday's affair.

Playing in his second game since returning from a four-game suspension, heavy-hitting Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict delivered a questionable blow to Steelers receiver Antonio Brown on Sunday.

After the play, he had a message for Brown's teammate.

"He hits A.B., then, literally, as I am under center for the next play, he points at JuJu (Smith-Schuster) and says, 'You're next,'" Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "How do you allow that stuff?"

Smith-Schuster dropped Burfict with a thunderous block during the team's previous matchup in Cincinnati last December, which knocked the Bengals linebacker out of the game with a concussion.

The Steelers receiver said he heard his share of trash talk Sunday.

"They were all making threats on me. Burfict was out there lying, saying I spit on him, which I didn't," Smith-Schuster recalled.

It appears Burfict won't be suspended for his hit on Brown, but he may still face discipline as the league reviews several plays involving the linebacker Sunday.