A few vocal members of the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers swear up and down the media overexaggerates the bad blood between the AFC North rivals.

It’s tough to see on the field, though the friendship struck up between Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and Steelers wideout Antonio Browns suggests it isn’t all hatred from both sides.

Speaking with the media, Kirkpatrick revealed he invited Brown to his youth camp in Gasden, Alabama and the two became friends — though he was a little afraid to let his Bengals teammates know about it.

“When I went public when I had my camp I didn’t know how the guys would take it,” Kirkpatrick said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “The rivalry is thick. It’s thick. A lot of guys don’t feel about it the way I feel about it. A lot of guys take it really hard. But he’s my friend. And being my friend, I’m going to play as hard as I can. That doesn’t give him any passes. It just makes it a little bit more.”

This probably won’t stop Kirkpatrick, Brown and everybody else on the field Sunday from talking trash and playing a typical physical game between the two sides. Both teams need it bad — Pittsburgh wants to solidify its grip on the AFC North and Cincinnati wants to save its season.

Still, it’s great to see a note like this. Players using their platform to come together across one of the NFL’s most violent rivalries to help kids is what sports are all about.