Pittsburgh Steelers News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Ravens LB Patrick Queen Disgusted With Steelers' Mike Tomlin After Being Strongly Disrespected By Him In 2020

Originally posted on Steeler Nation | By Parker Abate | Last updated 10/5/23

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a massive Week 5 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. The rivalry between the two teams is one of the best the NFL has had to offer fans throughout the 21st century. This game, like many others the two organizations have been involved in against one another, has huge implications. The winner will sit atop of the AFC North. Baltimore has the opportunity to take a controlling lead with the Cleveland Browns on a bye. There is no love lost between the Steelers and Ravens and Head Coaches, Mike Tomlin and John Harbuagh will go head-to-head once again.

A rivalry is always going to bring some intense trash talk and Ravens linebacker, Patrick Queen reminisced on Wednesday about an incident that occurred during his rookie season after being drafted in 2020. He spoke with the media as the big game on Sunday is rapidly approaching, and told a story about Tomlin aggressively trash talking him when Queen ended up on the Steelers sideline after a play. It's safe to say the head coach was welcoming him to AFC North football.

"Any time you join this organization and they talk about this [Steelers] game, it's the game that defines you; it makes you a Raven. When I was on their sideline my rookie year, Mike Tomlin was looking at me yelling at me, 'You're not a Raven, you're not a Raven. You're not supposed to be there, you're not one of them.' So, every time I play them, it's something personal."

One can interpret this a lot of ways. The first thing that comes to mind is Tomlin simply trying to get into a young player's head. Another way to look at it is Tomlin letting Queen know that he doesn't have what it takes to put on a Ravens uniform. Jeff Zrebeic of The Athletic confirmed what he thought Tomlin was trying to say. It's a well-known fact in Baltimore that you can't call yourself a Raven unless you beat the Steelers.

His point was, you need to earn it by beating Pittsburgh every year.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) October 4, 2023

Queen has only been a part of one win against the Steelers in his professional career. He will do what he can to make it number two on Sunday in a pivotal divisional matchup.

Regardless of what the Steelers coach meant, Queen took it personally and still remembers it prior to playing Pittsburgh each season. Tomlin simply did not respect him in that moment.

"I don't care if he was joking, I don't care if he was serious. At the end of day, I'm on your sideline and you're telling me I'm not a Raven. It's kind of disrespectful."

Queen clearly has a vivid recollection of the encounter. He is confident that he didn't say a thing to Tomlin and that he was simply a target of a disrespectful attack that will never be forgotten.

"At that point, it's like, I never even told you anything, like you just coming at me, so I mean from that point on, it was just it is what it is."

That was definitely Tomlin welcoming Queen to the division and it clearly lives rent free in his head. He's still talking about it in 2023 and the frustration makes sense. After all, his team has had little success against the Steelers since 2020.

Steelers Traded Away The Chance To Draft Queen In 2020

Pittsburgh didn't have the opportunity to draft Queen in 2020. Their first round pick was traded to the Miami Dolphins for Minkah Fitzpatrick the year prior and Queen was taken 28th overall by Baltimore. Overall, it was worth it for the Steelers, but Queen has been incredibly healthy in his career with 54 starts. He has 357 total tackles and 32 tackles for loss, along with 12 sacks since entering the league. He had an interception against Pittsburgh in 2022, which was the only time he has been victorious against Tomlin.

Call it bulletin board material if you must, but Tomlin is not losing sleep over his comments to Queen years ago. The linebacker, on the other hand, is still thinking about it as he gets ready to head into a hostile environment on Sunday.

This article first appeared on SteelerNation.com and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: