First Call: Bengals warn JuJu of pregame dancing, Steelers won't have to deal with Bengals top RB

The Bengals aren’t wild about Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and his pregame dancing.

The Steelers won’t have to prepare for Cincinnati’s star running back.

And some controversy surrounding the Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens game Monday night.

That’s what we’ve got to wrap up the week for Friday’s “First Call.”

On the lookout

It doesn’t sound as if the Cincinnati Bengals are going to be OK with JuJu Smith-Schuster dancing on their midfield logo if he tries to do so before Monday night’s game between the teams.

But they may not be confrontational about it either. At least not before the game.

Between the whistles? Well, that may be a different story.

CIN's Vonn Bell on JuJu dancing on logos: "It's kind of disrespectful at the end of the day. But they're on top right now so you can't really say nothing right now. We just gotta go out there, between the lines, go out there and hit him and let him know where he stands."

— Santa Baby (@Ben_Baby) December 17, 2020

The Steelers wideout iritated the Cowboys when he tried to dance on their star at midfield during the Steelers win in Dallas this year. The Bills didn’t like it when Smith-Schuster did his TikTok dance before last Sunday night’s game either.

But Smith-Schuster insists he’s going to keep doing this.

Hey, JuJu, let it go. You are getting dangerously close to Antonio Brown streaming live from the locker room, wearing blue cleats, and sliding down the goal posts.

I’m not saying that Smith-Schuster is going to turn into the social pariah that A.B. eventually became. I don’t know if it’s possible for another human to approach that level of narcissism and ignorant behavior.

But this is how Brown started. And this Smith-Schuster situation is starting to smell very familiar.

Well, on a lower level anyway.

Out of the ‘Mix’

It’s official. The Steelers won’t have to deal with Bengals running back Joe Mixon on Monday night.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor was asked if Mixon would be activated off injured reserve, and he simply responded, “Check back next week.”

Mixon has appeared in just six games this year, totaling 428 yards and three scores at a 3.6 yards-per-carry average.

According to BengalsWire.com, “On paper, there wasn’t anything stopping the Bengals from activating Mixon if he’s healthy because there are only three weeks left in the season. Not doing so indicates they’re still waiting to see if he can get healthy enough or merely shutting him down and trying to hit next season at full strength.”

Mixon didn’t play against the Steelers in the first matchup between the teams last month either. But the Bengals still managed 139 yards on 21 carries for a 6.6 yards-per-carry average.

Granted, that total was boosted thanks to a 39-yard fake punt run by Shawn Williams. But Samaje Perine wasn’t bad with 49 yards on seven carries.

Mixon had 62 yards rushing in the first game against Pittsburgh last year and 79 yards in the second game.

Spitter speaks

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters denies spitting at Jarvis Landry during the team’s “Monday Night Football” victory in Cleveland.

The Browns wide receiver made the accusation along with the release of this video from the game.

“He’s a coward,” Landry said Thursday. “He knew that maybe behind my back he could do things like that, but to my face he wouldn’t. Take it for what it’s worth, and now I know. Everybody knows what type of player he is and the type of person he is and just move on from there.”

Peters refuted the allegation. Well, at least intentionally.

“I didn’t spit at Jarvis,” Peters said. “Where I come from, when you have an issue with someone, you deal with it face-to-face, man-to-man. Anyone who believes that I intentionally spit at him does not know me — plain and simple.”

I don’t know Peters. But I saw the video. Which is why I’m siding with the Cleveland Browns on this one.

Which is hard for me to sa….did I just write that?

Thick enough yet?

Speaking of the Browns, how is this for thick irony?

First of all, former Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy may have to start for the New York Giants against the Browns on Sunday night. That’s if Daniel Jones’ ankle doesn’t heal in time.

The parallels don’t stop there. Freddy Kitchens is slated to be the play caller for McCoy on Sunday. He was the head coach of the Browns last season. Now he is the tight ends coach of the Giants.

Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has covid-19. So he’s out for the game and Kitchens will step in as the play caller.