Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen inked a three-year, $41 million deal with the Steelers back in March, and was quick to tab himself as the villain in the Steelers-Ravens rivalry. Queen revealed this week that he has a chip on his shoulder due to the Ravens not making an offer to re-sign him. He felt like it was a slap in the face.
Ravens legend Bart Scott, who’s never shy to express his opinion, thinks Queen is in for a rude awakening.
“Even though we hate the Steelers, we respect them, and we’ll never admit that out loud,” Scott said Friday on ESPN’s Get Up. “But every once in a while, you get a Judas. And the Judas is Patrick Queen. He went over to the dark side. He’s going to learn. He’s gonna mess around and find out.”
I guess Scott didn’t get the memo that Queen wasn’t offered a contract from Baltimore.
Queen said that he’s been in touch with his former Ravens teammates, including fellow linebacker Roquan Smith this past week before the two shut things down ahead of the game, but Queen hasn’t spoken to Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta or head coach John Harbaugh since the day he walked out of the doors of the Ravens facility.
“The first few months, you definitely go through those feelings,” he said. “Now, after playing games, you just go by. You want to win games. You want to win with your new teammates. You want to bond with those guys. Everything you do is for the organization that you’re in now.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” he added. “I think the outside picture makes it bigger than what it is. … I definitely did feel a type of way after the whole situation, but I’m over it now.”
Steelers strong safety DeShon Elliott appeared on former teammate Marlon Humphrey’s Punch Line Podcast earlier this week. Humphrey joked that Elliott is a “full-blown traitor” for leaving the Ravens. Elliott responded, “I wouldn’t say traitor because Eric DeCosta had a chance to sign me back and he chose not to. He chose to sign No. 32 [Marcus Williams].”
Without a doubt, Sunday’s game will be personal for Queen and Elliott. The same could be side for Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who caught a stray from Mike Tomlin on Tuesday.
“To be honest with you, I hadn’t thought a lot about it,” Tomlin said when asked about Johnson’s impact on the Ravens’ offense. “He’s not on a lot of their video. So at this stage of the week, I don’t know that I’ve weighed what he might mean to the matchup. They’ve got more significant pieces with larger roles that occupy my attention at this part of the week.”
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.