It’s been four years since the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Denver Broncos during the 2015 season. They played twice, in fact, but it was only in the regular season game that Broncos cornerback Chris Harris got the opportunity to go up against Antonio Brown, who was in the middle of his ascent to perennial All-Pro at the time. He would miss the postseason game due to a concussion.
Harris had not given up a single touchdown at all that season up to that point. Brown caught two of them against him during a 16-catch, 189-yard outing that included a come-from-behind victory. The cornerback said after the game, “I hope we see them again”.
The Broncos did see the Steelers again, as mentioned, but Harris didn’t get to see Brown again. It will have been 1072 days before he finally does see him again, as he talked about with The Denver Post leading up to the game.
“I didn’t have a good game that night”, he recalled. “It was tough that game. It was pretty much on me that game. We didn’t have anybody in our secondary that game. I think all my safeties were gone. I think I was out there with (Josh) Bush and (Shiloh) Keo, so that was a hard game. It won’t be anything like that again”.
Harris said that he knows Ben Roethlisberger is not going to shy away from going to his side of the field with the cornerback expected to follow Brown for much of the game. “I know I’ve got like 12 to 15 chances to get picks”, he said, “and my goal is to come out with one or two”.
Brown was told about his counterpart’s comments and about how long he’s waited to face him again. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him”, Brown said of Harris. “I’ve been a guy who’s been doing it at a high level for a long time. Anytime you’re facing a guy like that, you know what type of gaming it’s going to be. I’m looking forward to competing with him this weekend”.
A reports followed up, asking him about Harris’ comment that he wants another shot at Brown. “Everybody wants a shot at me”, the receiver responded. “That’s just my life”.
Brown is already coming off a big one-on-one matchup against Jalen Ramsey in which the All-Pro cornerback did spend much of the game following him. He ended up covering Brown for about nine targets or so, and the two really went back and forth, Ramsey getting two interceptions and Brown a touchdown.
