When it comes to rivalries, every player in the locker room understands what the deal is. Or if not, they’ll be quick to find out. Already, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, about to face the Cincinnati Bengals for the first time, has been given pointers about what it will be like to face them.
While he has already faced two of the Steelers’ three division rivals, neither the Browns nor, stunningly, even the Ravens, have offered a similar level of physicality and emotionally-charged intensity as have the matchups against the Bengals over the course of the past few years.