Leave it to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers to liven up the lead-up to NFL Training Camp. The bitter NFL North rivals continue to add fuel to the fires of their heated, and often times personal, rivalry adding another layer of intrigue to their games.
During an event in London promoting the NFL’s International Series for this upcoming season, Bengals defensive tackle Domata Peko was asked to complete the following sentence: “the Pittsburgh Steelers are. . . ”
And, without hesitation, Peko replied with a colorful comment.
“Pieces of bleep,” Peko replied via USA Today. For those wondering, yes he did make the bleep sound to blank out an expletive. But we all can read between the lines (hopefully) and fill in the blanks.
And lest anyone think that the Bengals/Steelers rivalry is just a production of the NFL in an effort to boost ratings, interest and exposure, Peko quickly put that theory to rest.
“Oh, we hate them,” he said. “For us, each time we play the Steelers, the whole city is like ‘beat these fools’ and whenever we beat them, it is a big party in Cincinnati. It’s a big rivalry for us.”
Peko won’t have to wait long to take that fire to the field of play against the Steelers, the two teams square off for the first time of the season in Week 2. Expect a lot of back-and-forth trash talk leading up to that game.
Should we expect less? Never.