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Jalen Ramsey Comes At Steve Smith In His Postgame Interview, Steve Responds "I've Got Cleats With Stronger Thread Than You"

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ESPN — Nearly 1,000 career receptions and being ranked in the top 10 of the NFL’s all-time receiving yardage list cuts no weight with Jacksonville Jaguars rookie cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

Ramsey, the No. 5 pick of the 2016 NFL draft, and Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith got into an exchange on the field after Baltimore’s 19-17 victory on Sunday and had to be separated. Ramsey said he thinks Smith was upset because of the way Ramsey was covering him — and said he has no respect for the 37-year-old wide receiver.

“Ya’ll tell me who got in whose head,” Ramsey said. “He came up to me after the game, you feel me? Y’all tell me who got in whose head. He’s an old man acting like that.

“Ain’t nobody worried about him. He came up to me, you know what I’m saying, on some disrespectful stuff. The game’s over with. You still mad ’cause I was locking you up? All right, go sleep on that. I ain’t trying to hear that after the game.” Smith caught eight passes for 87 yards. He had four of those catches in the fourth quarter, including a 5-yarder to convert a fourth-and-2 on the Ravens’ game-winning drive. The impetus of the postgame exchange may have come with little more than three minutes to play, when Ramsey and Smith were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct stemming from an altercation after Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny intercepted Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.

“It is what it is,” Ramsey said. “As a player, he’s still a good player. I’ll say that about him. But I don’t respect him as a man.”

Smith fired back at Ramsey in two tweets posted later Sunday evening, proclaiming, “I got cleats with stronger thread [than] you!!!”

Alright, so this all stems from the play where Flacco’s ball was tipped and picked off with 3 minutes left in the game. Steve Smith went over to the pile to help his guys up, and next thing he knows he’s on the ground. Ramsey came from behind and gave Steve a shove and put him on his ass. It was cheap, and a guy like Steve isn’t going to take that sitting down. Ramsey should know that. Saying “he’s an old man acting like that” is as ignorant as it gets. You know what you’re getting into when you mix it up with the Bully. He’s been like that since the day he was born and that’s never going to change as long as he’s lacing em up.

Where this thing really took off is where Ramsey had no interest in answering for his actions, and then had the gall to fire back in the comfort of his own locker room. Steve confronted him postgame about it face to face, and Ramsey didn’t want to give him the light of day. Which was punkish, but I guess I can give him a pass given that he just got dished an 0-3 start to his rookie season. That’s tough and the guy just wanted to get off the field, I get it. But standing in front of a microphone and mouthing off is as cowardly as it gets.

It’s fine if Ramsey wants to be a guy who mixes it up. He’s a helluva football player, and his ability alone will agitate plenty of guys over the next decade. I was dying to have him fall to the Ravens on draft day. But this isn’t about Steve getting “shut down” or frustrated with his performance. The guy went for 8 catches and 87 yards. Hell, the guy went out there and caught the 4th down conversion that essentially put the Ravens in range to kick the game-winning FG. So Steve got his. Maybe it wasn’t directly against Ramsey, but he got his and he wasn’t out of line to be irritated by a cheap shot after the whistle. If Ramsey wants to be a respected competitor in the NFL, he’s not going to earn a lot of respect from guys on the other side by avoiding confrontation. Steve Smith has mixed it up with the best CB’s in football the past 15 years, but I think nearly all of them would say they’ve walked away with a mutual respect for each other. That’s what being a competitor is all about. The kid is young and he’s gonna do great things, this was just one he could’ve handled better.

PS: Steve went on Mike & Mike this morning to talk about it. The Best Interview on the Planet, Part 10,363. Gonna be a helluva studio guy when he hangs em up.