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Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger drops back to pass against the Bengals Jan. 9 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
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On the Steelers: Rivalry week off to tame start for bitter AFC North foes

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

On the Steelers: Rivalry week off to tame start for bitter AFC North foes

The Steelers play the Cincinnati Bengals in four days, and all’s quiet on the Twitter front.

There is nothing from Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict, whose account Tweets are listed as “protected,” which is something running back Le’Veon Bell will be for a change against the Bengals Sunday because both players are suspended.

There is nothing from Steelers linebacker Vince Williams, who not only threatened to “paint” Burfict on site if he ever saw him on Miami’s South Beach, but then was involved in a pregame fight with Burfict in Cincinnati last year.

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There is nothing from Bengals cornerback Pacman Jones, who dropped five F-bombs and one S-bomb on — OK, not Twitter — Instagram after his penalty helped the Steelers pull out an improbable playoff victory in Cincinnati in January.

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There is nothing from Steelers halfback DeAngelo Williams, who fired a Tweet to Burfict asking him ‘’what are you doing when u not costing your team games.’’

Oh, such fun it was last season when these two teams played, and they did so three times. Sunday, they get together for another reunion, and the coaches of each team, Mike Tomlin and Marvin Lewis, tried the past few days to play down the blood-thirsty rivalry that has bubbled up and over the past two seasons.

“I thought largely, our guys handled themselves appropriately and didn’t get consumed by the emotions that comprised the recent elements of the matchup,’’ Tomlin said Tuesday. “I don’t anticipate anything changing this time around. Our focus is a singular one, and that’s to win the game.

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“We realize to win the game you can’t beat yourself. That’s something that’s part of our everyday culture, in terms of how we approach our business. I don’t need to wait until a game like this or a matchup of significance like this where your emotions run high, to express that. I don’t subscribe to that school of thought. It’s just part of our everyday business.”

The words “beat yourself’’ could apply directly to Jones and Burfict in that playoff game because that’s precisely how the Steelers won on their consecutive late-game penalties. Lewis, at his news conference Monday, dismissed any thought that his players might hold some grudge from last season.

“This is a new team, new season, and a new year.”

But then, we all know better. This is a different kind of rivalry with the Bengals. The Steelers had rivalries with plenty of teams in the past — with Dallas in the Super Bowl, with the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs, with the old Houston Oilers in the old AFC Central Division and with the Cleveland Browns, their once longest-standing rivalry that long vanished.

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The Baltimore Ravens, once the Browns faded, became their most consistent rivalry in this century. But the Bengals shoved the Ravens out of the way the past few seasons not only because of their competitiveness — they are the reigning AFC North champs — but also for the ugliness during and surrounding the game. It never seemed to be that way with Baltimore.

“It’s one thing to be a physical, hard-fought football game,” Ben Roethlisberger said on his weekly 93.7 The Fan radio spot Tuesday. “It’s another thing to be cheap and dirty. So, hopefully, it just stays clean and is a fun football game for both sides.”

The chance of that happening? Well, as we mentioned, Burfict won’t be on the field. Neither will Joey Porter, who was shoved by Jones after the Steelers assistant coach came onto the field in that playoff game to check on Antonio Brown, who was knocked silly by an illegal hit from Burfict. The NFL since drew up a “Joey Porter rule” which bans assistant coaches from the playing field.

The two consecutive penalties against the Bengals put the Steelers in position to win the playoff game with a field goal.

Roethlisberger believes the Steelers will refrain from at least starting anything this week.

“We respect the game and we respect this rivalry,” Roethlisberger said on The Fan. “I think if we go out and do our job and don’t do anything that warrants any retaliation — which I have all the confidence that we will — then I think and hope they will respect that as well, and I think it can turn into an awesome series.”

It already has.

Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.

First Published: September 14, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

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