Former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh had some memorable moments against the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n
A pair of two-touchdown games, trash talking Troy Polamalu, and infamously wiping his feet with the Terrible Towel after the Bengals beat the Steelers in 2005 at Heinz Field, helping them eventually clinch the AFC North title come to mind.<\/p>\n
But one moment that left an impact on Houshmandzadeh was the time he tried to trash talk former Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison and found out the hard way that it was a terrible, no-good idea.<\/p>\n
Appearing on \u201cNightcap\u201d with Harrison Wednesday night, Houshmandzadeh shared the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used to just walk around with his helmet on, obviously, and he would just look at everybody just real crazy. Didn\u2019t say anything, didn\u2019t smile at you. And so one day he was, I don\u2019t know who he was talking to, it was during the timeout with his players, and I just walked by him. I said, \u2018The fuck you always looking like you tough? You ain\u2019t tough.\u2019 That\u2019s what I said to him,\u201d Houshmandzadeh recalled of when he trash talked Harrison, according to audio via the show\u2019s podcast page.<\/a> \u201cHe didn\u2019t say one word to me. He just looked at me real crazy. And so then I said, \u2018Oh, you think you scaring me, huh? Ain\u2019t nobody scared of you, boy.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd bro, when I said that, you looked at me so crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Harrison certainly cut quite the imposing figure on the field.<\/a> He was shorter than most outside linebackers, but he was built well, played a physically menacing style, and took no prisoners on the field. Once he crossed that white line, there were no friends, only enemies he was looking to destroy.<\/p>\n That mentality is something he says he developed when he was a kid and his father told him to play that way, and it just stuck with him. It made him into one of the greatest defensive players in Steelers history.<\/p>\n He made sure Houshmandzadeh knew what happens if you mess with him on the field shortly after that comment.<\/p>\n \u201cSo then I go back to the huddle, [Bengals OT] Willie Anderson, we about to get the play going. He says, \u2018Will you leave him alone? You ain\u2019t gotta block him.\u2019 So I catch a little out, and you spear me in my back, and you get up looking at me and you say, \u2018Say another word to me, punk!’\u201d Houshmandzadeh recalled of that moment with Harrison. \u201cI was like, what? This dude, just the rest of the game, every time I looked at you, you was just looking at me like, when I see you.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to know what year or which of his 15 career games against the Steelers that Houshmandzadeh is recalling this moment happening, but that sure sums up James Harrison from the perspective of a rival.<\/p>\n While Harrison had a killer mentality on the field, he was a different person off the field, and guys were shocked to see that type of demeanor from Harrison away from football. There was clearly a switch that Harrison flipped between being on the field and off it.<\/p>\n Though he had some ugly moments off the field during his Steelers career \u2014 he made some pointed comments about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that made headlines<\/a> and was the poster boy for the dark side of the game for a brief period<\/a> due to the violence that he played with \u2014 Harrison personified being a Steeler.<\/p>\n