gave the some added motivation prior to January's wild card playoff showdown between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Caleb Farley Jersey The receiver's disrespectful comment quickly made its way to Cleveland, giving the Browns even more incentive to win their first playoff game ever against their longtime rival.And that's exactly what happened in Pittsburgh on the night of Jan. 10. Before Smith-Schuster and his teammates could blink, the Browns had steamrolled out to a 28-0 advance en route to a 48-37 victory. And while he admits that his comments surely riled up Cleveland, Smith-Schuster does not regret what he said."At the end of the day, I said what I said," Smith-Schuster Pro Football Talk. "I don't take anything back. They did come out there, they did whoop our a s. It is what it is. Derrick Henry Jersey We lost that game. We lost early in that game in the first five, 10 minutes. But we still fought. I'll tell you one thing about our team, we still fought to the end. It wasn't good enough."Despite their ma sive deficit, the did indeed fight until the bitter end. Trailing 35-10 at intermi sion, two Pittsburgh touchdowns made it a 12-point game heading into the fourth quarter. But after the Steelers elected to punt on fourth-and-1 from their own 46-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter, the Browns put the game out of reach on 40-yard touchdown on a screen pa s from . The Browns' succe s in 2020 has made them a viable threat to win their first division title since 1989. Unlike Smith-Schuster's rookie season, when the Steelers were the only AFC North team to post a winning record, the AFC North is arguably the NFL's most competitive division. While the Steelers won the division in 2020, the Browns and also made the playoffs after both teams went 11-5 during Jayon Brown Jersey the regular season. And while all three teams are expected to contend for the division crown in 2021, the -- with succe sfully recovering from last season's knee injury -- are expected to be significantly more competitive this season."The AFC North is just probably the hardest ... division right now to win in," Matt Barkley Jersey Smith-Schuster said. "Guys like Joe Burrow, , Baker Mayfield, and Ben Roethlisberger . I think every team is getting to the point where it's like, 'Man, they're really good.' It is what it is." Smith-Schuster's former teammate, new Ravens offensive tackle , recently ruffled some feathers in Pittsburgh after about the challenges his team faced during his final season with the Steelers. Villanueva, inadvertently or not, appeared to take a subtle jab at Smith-Schuster."For us as an offensive line in Pittsburgh last year, it was incredibly challenging that we knew that we had to go with these game plans that involved pa sing the ball potentially the entire game,". "The mentality when you have a balanced offense, or when you run the ball, it's obviously better for an offensive line. I'm a suming it's not as fun for the wide receivers because they're not getting all the catches. They're making their TikToks, and they're having fun on social media. But for an offensive lineman, it's definitely an awesome experience."The recent comments made by Smith-Schuster and Villanueva have only Trenton Cannon Jersey added more spice into what should be a compelling and competitive AFC North division in 2021. Click here