jalen ramsey

If there is one guy in the NFL you don’t want to talk trash to, it’s probably Steve Smith Sr. The Baltimore Ravens receiver has a long history of jawing with opponents and then backing up his big mouth on the field.

So it’s unclear what Jaguars rookie cornerback Jalen Ramsey expected when he started getting into it with Smith during the Ravens’ 19-17 win over the Jaguars on Sunday or when he continued the beef during a post-game press conference.

Via NFL.com, here’s what Ramsey had to say about Smith, who caught eight passes for 87 yards to help his team win:

(On if things boiled over with Smith):“When you’ve been beating the opponent that’s in front of you both physically and psychologically all day, they tend to get mad like that. I don’t care how old he is. If that made him angry then, he can go home and sleep on it. I don’t care. It is what it is.”

(On if he didn’t want to hear from Smith after the game): “Yeah, but I’m not worried about him. He was still mad because I was locking him up. Alright, well sleep on it. I’m not trying to hear that after the game.”

(On if he believes he got into Smith’s head): “What do you think? You tell me. Any time I lined up on him — y’all go watch that. Y’all tell me who got in whose head. He came up to me after the game. He’s an old man acting like that.”

(On if he thought the Ravens moved Smith around to field to get away from him): “Yeah. I noticed that throughout the game a little bit. If you go back and look he’s lined up away from me. It is what it is. As a player, he’s still a good player. I’ll say that about him. I don’t respect him as a man though.”

Smith wasted little time in responding to the rookie, reminding everyone who was the guy with more than 14,000 career receiving yards and who was the 21-year-old rookie.

Smith also criticized Ramsey for not talking to him face-to-face, throwing in a beautifully patronizing “young man” to make clear who was boss.

As always, long live Steve Smith.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.