Leading up to the hyped-up matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, there was a war of words, which primarily came from one side.
After revealing that he never reached a contract offer from the Ravens before hitting free agency and wasn’t wanted back, new Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen was the target of some vitriol, primarily from former Ravens linebacker and ESPN NFL analyst Bart Scott.
Appearing on ESPN’s Get Up Friday morning, Scott said Queen was going to “mess around and find out” in the rivalry, calling him Judas.
“Even though we hate the Steelers, we respect them, and we’ll never admit that out loud,” Scott said on ESPN’s Get Up. “But every once in a while, you get a Judas. And the Judas is Patrick Queen. He went over to the dark side. He’s going to learn. He’s gonna mess around and find out.”
Shortly after the Steelers’ 18-16 win over the Ravens in which he had a team-high 10 tackles and a pivotal forced fumble late in the first half, Queen kept receipts and fired away on social media at Scott.
“@BartScott57 talk that talk now boy I BEEN THAT! Yo stats took you 12 years I’m in year 5 and right there,” Queen tweeted after the Steelers improved to 8-2.
Now that is a rivalry right there. Queen’s a Steeler.
Turns out, Scott messed around and found out.
During pregame warmups, Queen stayed to himself, keeping near the end zone on the Steelers’ side, not sharing any pleasantries with his former teammates or coaches. That allowed him to have a significant chip on his shoulder, which he carried out to the coin toss at midfield as an honorary captain for the Steelers, and then it led to a very productive game.
Queen ratcheted things up in the rivalry this offseason by signing the three-year, $41 million deal in free agency with the Steelers, leading to criticism and trash talk from former teammates and former Ravens in the media, including Scott.
Scott probably thought he was just having a bit of fun leading up to the matchup on Friday and just talking trash to add to the mix on the same panel as former Steelers safety Ryan Clark. But it’s clear that his “Judas” comments got under Queen’s skin.
Once the clock ran out and Queen had a chance to get to his phone, he very clearly zeroed in on Scott.
And his tweet stands up, too, from a stats standpoint.
In five NFL seasons and counting, Queen has 516 tackles, 41 tackles for loss, four interceptions, 18 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and 34 quarterback hits. He has a second-team All-Pro honor under his belt, too, and he has done all that in 76 games.
In 12 NFL seasons, Scott had 747 tackles, 75 tackles for loss, four interceptions, 27 passes defensed, six forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and 69 QB hits. He also had one second-team All-Pro honor under his belt in 172 career games.
Queen has a point. He very clearly was locked and loaded ready to fire back if the Steelers won, and he did so quickly after the game, adding to the war of words.
All I can think of now is the Dwayne Wade “I love it” GIF. What fun!
