Browns OL Wyatt Teller on wife's comments about Steelers fans: 'It's hostile out there'
The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Cleveland Browns in a Week 14 AFC North rivalry game. As often is the case, the rivalry spilled over into the stands, and Carly Teller – wife of Browns guard Wyatt Teller – was caught up in the ugly side of it.
Teller posted to X (formerly Twitter) that she had attended the Dec. 8 game at Acrisure Stadium. She didn't have a good experience and claimed the Steelers fans around her were "blatantly disrespectful" throughout the contest.
"The fans in Pittsburgh today were so blatantly disrespectful to me and the Browns girls," Teller wrote. "I’ve never felt so attacked by people who I literally did nothing to. Very sad/embarrassing behavior."
Teller declined to provide specifics about what the Steelers fans were doing during the contest in her post to X. However, in an Instagram story, she further outlined that Pittsburgh fans were screaming at her throughout the contest.
"When you’re just trying to have a drink and watch your husbands at work but surrounded by Steelers fans who are screaming at them and you the entire time," Teller wrote.
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Naturally, Wyatt Teller was asked about his wife's comments during a media availability on Monday.
Cleveland's starting right guard indicated that he doesn't necessarily mind heckling even despite his wife's experience. That is, of course, provided those jeering don't cross the line.
"As long as they don't put their hands on a woman, or crazy expose themselves or spit on my wife, then you can say whatever you want," Teller told reporters. "You gotta understand that when you're in a hostile environment like that, what you're gonna get."
It wasn't clear whether any of the inappropriate behavior examples Teller cited were hypotheticals or if any had been a problem during his wife's trip to Acrisure Stadium.
Teller also didn't necessarily condone the trash-talking fans. He pointed out that it's hard to fully eliminate that element of the longstanding rivalry between Cleveland and Pittsburgh supporters.
"This rivalry goes back way too long to be like, 'Oh, you're just the wife!' It doesn't matter. I hate you. Right?" Teller explained. "And you know, I pray that our fans are a little better, but I know that [the] Dawg Pound can get a little rowdy. So, I'm not naïve to the fact that this rivalry goes so far back that you gotta understand that it's hostile out there."
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The Browns and Steelers finished their season series on Sunday, so the hostility between the two teams will be on the back burner for a while. They won't meet again until 2025 when Cleveland will look to snap its 21-game regular-season losing streak in Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wyatt Teller responds to wife's post on 'disrespectful' Steelers fans