Cincinnati Bengals safety Vonn Bell saw JuJu Smith-Schuster dance on the team logo, and he made him pay with a monster hit.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has gotten under the skin of his opposition due to his infatuation with performing TikTok dances on their logo at midfield. As anyone knows, stepping on the enemy’s logo is a huge no-no in sports. It irritated and motivated the Buffalo Bills last week, and it appears to have done so with their AFC North-rival Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night.
In the second quarter, Smith-Schuster caught a pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and turned around to begin his trot upfield. However, Bengals safety Vonn Bell was waiting for him and he laid Smith-Schuster out with a huge hit. That forced the TikTok-fanatic receiver to fumble the ball and the Bengals recovered.
To make matters even sweeter, the Bengals got on the board extended their lead to 10-0 on a four-yard touchdown run by Giovanni Bernard.
Vonn Bell warned Smith-Schuster not to do it
Earlier this week, Bell warned Smith-Schuster against dancing on his opponent’s logo. Bell called the move “kind of disrespectful,” and said the only thing he could do is “hit him and let him know where he stands,” via ESPN’s Ben Baby.
Smith-Schuster received flak in the past week for doing the same thing against the Bills, catching the ire of the entire Bills team, especially quarterback Josh Allen. Even though the Steelers ended up losing 26-15, Smith-Schuster said he won’t stop dancing pregame because he’s “not going to stop being [himself].”
Maybe, just maybe this will convince Smith-Schuster to retire this ritual for good. Instead of motivating himself and the Steelers, it’s actually riling up their opponents. If not, he can expect hits like this one to continue.