Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green doesn’t want to hear people call Pittsburgh Steelers safety Mike Mitchell dirty.

Mitchell, the subject of several fines Thursday after a handful of questionable plays against the Kansas City Chiefs the week prior, has heard Vontaze Burfict-esque criticism leveled in his direction.

Green disagrees.

“I don’t feel he’s a dirty player, man,” Green said, according to Jay Morrison of the Dayton Daily News. “He just plays with a lot of emotions.”

This is a big deal coming from a guy who received a questionable hit from Mitchell and suffered a concussion back in 2014.

Rather than agree with the vocal element bashing Mitchell, Green compared him to former notable Steelers safety Ryan Clark.

“It’s a man’s game,” Green said. “Can’t just go out there and whine about it. That’s his style of play. That’s what makes him a starting safety in this league, and he’s a good one, he’s a great one.”

People listen when the normally quiet Green speaks, like he did after Week 2 and the Bengals wound up firing offensive coordinator Ken Zampese.

Green will turn some heads with these comments and it adds an interesting wrinkle to this weekend’s critical AFC North encounter.

We’ll see if the niceties now hold up once these two get on the field.