Baltimore Ravens

Ravens WR Smith puts Steelers safety on 'lifetime hit list'

Published Oct. 2, 2015 2:56 a.m. ET

foxsports

Baltimore Ravens receiver Steve Smith Sr. isn’t known as one of the league’s most cordial players. Rather, the brash and fast wideout is known as one of the game’s most ruthless trash-talkers, even at the advanced age of 36.

So if you were expecting him to credit the Steelers’ Mike Mitchell — once a teammate with Smith in Carolina — with a nice hit after Mitchell delivered a hard shot in Thursday night’s game, well . . . let’s just say you’d be wrong.

Very wrong.

According to multiple reports, Smith told the media after Baltimore’s 23-20 overtime win in Pittsburgh that he thought Mitchell’s hit was a spear, and that after the hit Mitchell taunted Smith with "How do you like that?"

Apparently, Smith did not like it very much. Smith reportedly told the media, "The best thing I can do without threatening him and saying that I will assault him when I see him is I will say I look forward to playing him again. He's on my lifetime hit list."

That would actually fall pretty well in line with Smith’s vow to "wound, damage and puncture a lot of people on my way out," on "The Rich Eisen Show" in the preseason.

Smith left Thursday’s game late in the third quarter with a back injury, but not on the play in which Mitchell hit him. Mitchell tackled Smith after a 5-yard catch in the first quarter; Lawrence Timmons made the hit that knocked Smith out of the game. It was not clear whether Smith was alleging Mitchell's tackle as the spear followed by a taunt, or if he confused Timmons for Mitchell.

#Ravens WR Steve Smith Sr. had X-ray, per source: No damage, just a contusion. Looked like bad kidney shot.
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) October 2, 2015

Smith did not return after the Timmons hit, but Yahoo! Sports’ Eric Edholm said X-rays were negative and that he suffered "just a contusion."

Smith will now have nine days to rest if needed before the Ravens’ next game, at home against the Browns on Oct. 11.