The Baltimore Ravens will face the Cincinnati Bengals for the second time in as many weeks.
Tensions will mount any time division rivals square off again in the playoffs, but the Bengals added ammunition to Sunday night’s rubber match by accusing their opponents of dirty play in Week 18.
Per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith side-stepped a question about the allegations Wednesday.
“See you Sunday,” Smith said with a smile.
According to The Athletic’s Jay Morrison, Bengals defensive players were “irate” with actions from the Ravens offense. Defensive tackle DJ Reader claimed they did “some s— I don’t agree with,” and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt said “we owe them.”
“It was a lot of late stuff,” Taylor-Britt said. “Just after the play, doing dirty stuff you shouldn’t do in football. Aiming at guys’ legs and stuff and other dirty hits. We don’t play like that. We’re gonna remember that.”
Ravens head coach Jim Harbaugh offered a more detailed response when asked about Cincinnati’s claims during Monday’s press conference.
“I studied the game really closely, obviously. Anybody can, and it’s clear our players played a clean game, as they always do,” Harbaugh said. “Millions of fans watched the game as well, and they saw the same thing. So, I would just say let them be the judges, but I’m not going to get into that.”
Don’t be surprised to see another testy game between the AFC North adversaries. Baltimore will return to Paycor Stadium to settle the score in a first-round playoff matchup starting Sunday at 8:15 p.m. ET.