Mike Mitchell responds to Steve Smith's 'hit list' bounty

Former teammates in Carolina, Smith has been of the most talkative players in NFL history over the course of his 15-year NFL career. With that in mind, Mitchell paid little attention to Smith's comments saying that the Steelers safety is on his 'lifetime hit list' after Baltimore's win over Pittsburgh last Thursday.

Smith left the game with an injury and is questionable for the Ravens next game with micro fractures in his back suffered in Thursday night's game. After a strong start to the season that included 25 catches for 325 yards in Baltimore's first three games, Smith had to exit Thursday's night's game after getting hit in the back by Lawrence Timmons. The Ravens wide receiver said that Mitchell crowed at him after the hit, saying, “How do you like that?” as Smith lingered in pain on the field before exiting the game.

"The best thing I could do without threatening him and saying, 'I will assault him when I see him' is I will say, 'I look forward to playing him again, and he's on my lifetime hit list," Smith said after the game. "I got speared in my back by an ex-teammate. I kinda know his character and who he is."

(Photo: Ted Hyman, 247Sports)

Mitchell has since responded to his ex-teammate's remarks, saying it's a non-issue as Mitchell and the Steelers prepare to take on the Chargers on Monday night football.

“It is something that he tries to use to fuel himself,” Mitchell said. “It isn't even something I concern myself with. I didn't think of anything when I heard about it, and I don't think anything about it now. I am going to continue on and play football.

“If you look at my fine history, I am more of a helmet-to-helmet kind of guy,” Mitchell said in reference to his fines while playing for the Panthers in 2013. “I am not going to spear you. I wasn't even involved in the play.”

Mitchell, signed by the Steelers last season to start at free safety opposite Troy Polamalu, has enjoyed a solid season thus far after an up and down first season in Pittsburgh. He has 19 tackles after four games while forcing a fumble in Pittsburgh's Week 1 game against the Patriots. He also deflected passes against the 49ers and Ravens while making five tackles in the Steelers game against Baltimore.

The hard-hitting safety has been one of the reasons for the defense's success since their Week 1 loss to New England, as the unit has allowed an average of just 16 points a game over the past three weeks. Mitchell has quickly gained a rapport with strong safety Will Allen, who was inserted into the starting lineup this season over Shamarko Thomas.

On Monday, Mitchell and the Steelers defense will face one of the game's best quarterbacks in Philip Rivers, who has completed nearly 71 percent of his passes this season.

While Mitchell brushed off Smith's warnings of future retribution, it will certainly be something to watch for when the teams meet again in Baltimore on Dec. 27.

Mitchell Starc's four wickets help NSW Blues flatten South Australian Redbacks

Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul not only spearheaded an incredible fightback for NSW to win their Matador Cup match against South Australia by 110 runs, but it proved – yet again – why he is considered the world's best white-ball bowler.

The Blues' bowling attack had been set what appeared an unenviable task on Thursday, defending 266 runs at North Sydney Oval, a ground notorious for big scores. And they were up against a South Australian team that blasted 354 in their last match.

Captain's knock: Steve Smith plays a stroke during the Blues innings. Photo: Brendon Thorne

A day after Starc revealed he had put off surgery on painful spurs in his ankle to soldier on this summer, he looked fearsome as he marked out his run-up.

His 4-27 proved the purposefulness was not a show, but South Australian opener Tim Ludeman did not share in the excitement of the NSW squad, who praised their man for generating the zip needed to zap the Redbacks out on a pitch with less life than a doornail.

"He bowled full and swung it back in, as he tends to do, so it's nothing we haven't seen before," Ludeman said. 

Some of Ludeman's teammates, however, batted as though they had never seen anything quite like the Starc express. He knocked Travis Head – who scored 202 against Western Australia on Monday – for a duck in the opening over.

And he produced a third-over hammer blow when Callum Ferguson, who scored a century on Monday, was caught by Sean Abbott for one run.

Later in the match skipper Steve Smith unleashed Starc on the tail, and he produced a ball Adam Zampa had no hope of playing before ending the game when he bowled the Redbacks' No.11, Gary Putland.

"We knew if we just put [the ball] in the right area and probably bowl as if we were defending 330 or less, we knew we had the bowling attack to restrict them," said Starc.

"[The 266 NSW scored] was probably a little bit below ... where we thought it might be at the start of the day.

"I think we played really well in the first 10 overs to get through that new ball ... I think the batsman did really well there, but we probably didn't capitalise on that enough through the middle and at the end."

NSW made a winning total thanks to skipper Smith, who was the anchor of the innings after losing the toss and being sent into bat.

As Smith watched his players fall to rash shots and saw Peter Nevill and Sean Abbott run out by Sam Raphael – who has the reflexes of a cobra – Shane Watson came to an inglorious end when he was bowled trying to blast a Zampa full toss into orbit. It was cruel to watch.

It was left to Smith to salvage the innings, and after being dropped by a diving Putland in the deep when he was on 43 and surviving a run-out appeal, he was dismissed for 72. It put the Blues on course for another two bonus points.

NSW have effectively won three games through their four bonus points, which have followed dominant victories over South Australia and the Cricket Australia XI.

While Starc performed brilliantly, he received great support from Gurinder Sandhu, who sent Ludeman packing in the second over.

Abbott's pace and aggression earned him 2-14, while the NSW spin twins, Stephen O'Keefe (2-21) and Nathan Lyon (1-32), added to a collective effort.

Steve Smith's personal photos show his journey from market stall to Poundland multimillionaire

Poundland founder Steve Smith went from market stall trader to multi-millionaire by the time he was 30 years old.

He was dragged to his father's stall in Bilston as a toddler, and set up his first high-street bargain goods store when he was a teenager. He turned that into the retail empire Poundland, which he later sold for £50 million ($74.2 million).

His next venture is EstatesDirect, an online property agent.

After trading a humble townhouse in Wolverhampton, West Midlands for a 15,000-square-foot-mansion in Shropshire in 2000, he told Business Insider how he did it. 

Smith also shared with us some early photos from his days on his father's Bilston stall. We've mixed them with other images of his roots in the Midlands.

Steve Smith Sr., Lorenzo Taliafero, Crockett Gillmore miss practice Wednesday

Four important cogs in the Ravens offense missed practice Wednesday, their first since last week’s 23-20 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers nearly a week ago.

Wide receivers Steve Smith Sr. (back) and Breshad Perriman (knee) weren’t present during the early portion of practice, nor were tight end Crockett Gillmore (calf) and running back Lorenzo Taliaferro.

Smith hasn’t officially been ruled out of the game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, and along with Gillmore, who missed the Steelers game with a calf strain, is considered week-to-week.

Perriman had his knee scoped last week to see what was holding up his recovery from a sprained PCL. He returned to practice on a limited basis two weeks ago, but hasn’t appeared on the field since pregame warmups against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 27.

Taliaferro missed practice earlier this year with a foot injury and a sprained MCL, and was listed on the injury report as still dealing with the foot issue Wedneday.

Guard Marshal Yanda was a surprise inclusion on the injury report, and was limited in practice Wednesday with an ankle injury.

Ravens' Harbaugh backtracks on declaring Steve Smith 'out'

Last Saturday on the sideline during his brother's Michigan-Maryland game, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Steve Smith Sr. would miss the team's Week 5 game against Cleveland. 

Harbaugh sang a different tune during his Monday press conference, saying nothing is official on Smith just yet. 

“He’s week-to-week,” Harbaugh said via the team's official website. “The injury report rules people out. I’ve got my own thoughts on it, as I’ve stated, but I’m just telling you there’s a process.”

Smith is dealing with microfractures in his back from a hit by Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons last Thursday night. His ability to play will be determined by how much pain he can play through, Harbaugh said. 

“Knowing Steve, he’ll want to be out there,” Harbaugh added. “He probably has one of the all-time high pain tolerances that you’ll ever see. He’s in the Hall of Fame of Pain Tolerance. That’s what our doctors told me, so that’s quite a compliment.”