The Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers rivalry was fired up on Sunday, thanks to Jared Verse. The Browns defensive end had been trash-talking the Steelers entering the game, but was outsmarted. Among the many highlights of the game was him getting tossed to the ground on his head by Pittsburgh guard Mason McCormick.

After all that talk, Jared Verse expressed his frustration at the move.

“I had jumped in the air, tried to block the kick, he swooped my legs in the air, ended up landing on my head,” he said in the post-game presser. “That’s football. I mean, I’m very upset about it. Obviously, you know, if this wasn’t football, I would have reacted a different way. But, you know, he got to handle that. He got the flag, you know, he was able to walk away with it. He got a little penalty on them.

“Nah, I mean, like what I’ve said before about them, that’s just the way that they are. You know, him specifically, that’s the way he plays. … I love football. I love the aggression. I love how much power goes into it. How much we put into their lives, into the football. But to do something like that? It’s just, I can’t have respect for anything like that.”

After Rico Dowdle capitalized on Cleveland’s fumble (their second in the first quarter) with a 9-yard rushing touchdown, McCormick took on Verse during the ensuing extra point attempt. He grabbed the defensive end, lifted him into the air, and slammed him headfirst on the ground.

There was tension between both sides entering the game, involving Jared Verse. He had been trash-talking the Steelers, the Browns’ age-old arch-nemesis. The latter won their first matchup earlier in the year, and even then, Verse could be heard saying, “I hate black and yellow, man. I hate it.”

Ahead of the Steelers game, he had accused them of “playing dirty.”

There was response from the Steelers, too.

“Double teaming, sliding, chipping, are those not allowed in our game?” defensive lineman Cam Heyward said Tuesday on The Rich Eisen Show. “Yeah, I got the bruises to prove it. But we don’t whine about it, baby. It’s part of the game. And so, I’m looking forward to this game. It’s gonna be a fun game. Both teams are in position to do a lot of work in this division, as they say.”

Jared Verse said later: “I’m not worried about Cam. I’m not worried about their O-line. I’m not worried about nobody they got on their team. We’re out there to go dominate. About to make Pittsburgh ours on Sunday.”

While many think McCormick bodyslamming Verse was a reaction to the latter testing the Steelers’ patience, the offensive lineman had a simple explanation for his move.

“I really had no idea who it was,” McCormick said. “Just felt somebody jump. I was told to get the jumper’s hands down, that’s really it.”

Despite the penalty, Pittsburgh avoided any damage, commanding a 27-6 win and taking sole control of the AFC North standings. Verse, for all that talk, could only record one assisted tackle.