The potential beef between Pickens and Newsome seems to have begun when the two engaged in a physical altercation in the back of the end zone on the final play of Week 12. After the game, Newsome posted a social media message that appeared pointed at Pickens.

“Fake tough guy,” Newsome tweeted with three laughing emojis.

Newsome addressed Pickens more directly on December 6.

“I’m all about the team,” Newsome told reporters, via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. “Obviously, he’s a guy who cares more so about himself and you can see that in the penalties he causes.”

It’s possible Newsome is going to try and bait Pickens into taking a costly penalty in Week 14. Pickens committed two 15-yard penalties in the Week 13 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. That generated a lot of talk around Pickens in the Pittsburgh sports media this past week.

Pickens would be wise to ignore Newsome on December 8. That shouldn’t be hard if Pickens truly doesn’t know who Newsome is.

Regardless of whether that’s true or not, treating an opponent as not important enough to know by name is still one of the biggest insults one can cast in the NFL.

This season, Pickens leads the Steelers with 55 catches and 850 receiving yards. Newsome has 25 combined tackles with 5 pass defenses and 1 interception.