The Steelers advanced past the Bengals last Saturday night in a game marred by bad behavior by players and coaches from both sides in a continuation of the ugliness from the regular season that led to more than $130,000 in fines after the teams met for the second time.
There isn’t the same history of bad blood between the Steelers and Broncos, although that doesn’t mean there’s none at all. When the two teams met last month, Steelers center Cody Wallace delivered a cheap shot to the head of Broncos safety David Bruton at the end of a play and was penalized for unnecessary roughness. He was later fined, although some Broncos thought that Wallace should have been suspended and safety Darian Stewart said that Wallace is still on the team’s mind heading into this weekend.
“It’s not going to be anything as far as cheap or anything,” Stewart said, via ESPN.com. “We’re going to get them between the lines, between the plays, the whistle. So I mean, he’s going to be sore after the game. That’s how I see it, man. He comes out on a screen, he better not come at [me]. I’m cutting him. That’s where I’m at with it.”
Coach Gary Kubiak said that he’s spoken to the team about keeping their composure in light of what happened in Cincinnati and said he thinks the “players understand that” one penalty can be the difference between winning and losing a game. If he’s right, Stewart and the rest of the team will make sure their distaste for Wallace is secondary to their desire to keep playing football this season.