CINCINNATI -- "I'm tired. My whole body is tired."
David DeCastro had just completed several sessions with the cameras and microphones in the visiting locker room at Paul Brown Stadium and, oh, yeah, three hours of throttle-someone's-neck football. He squeezed a bottle of water, squatted to his stool, began unwrapping tattered tape from his bruised knuckles, and he spoke those words up there to Alejandro Villanueva, his mate on the offensive line.
Villanueva, standing at the next stall, shook his head. No other response.
"To do that every week ... imagine that," DeCastro kept on. "Every snap, everybody talking, pushing, shoving ... imagine if every game were like that."
Villanueva shook his head again. Still no other response.
"It's crazy," DeCastro persisted. "That guy ..."
OK, that did it.
"It's crazy," Villanueva finally piped up. "To be out there thinking about someone on the other side trying to hurt people ... to be thinking about preventing that ... it's just a different game, man. It's not fun."
These Steelers grew a little stronger on this Sunday afternoon. They really did.
Not just because they beat the Bengals, 24-20, thanks to six Chris Boswell field goals and a relentless 14-point rally. Or that they extended their winning streak to five. Or even that, at 9-5, they've set a Christmas stage for a de facto AFC North championship game with the Ravens at Heinz Field.
No, this one, like it or not, loathe him or not, was so much more about putting Vontaze Burfict in his place.
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Vontaze Burfict denied our interview request. Laughed and said "I ain't got s*** to say. F*** everybody." #Bengals @FOX19
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) December 18, 2016
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Shots from Steelers vs. Bengals. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
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