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'You Have to Be Violent': NFL Defenders Feel Trapped in a War for Game's Soul

PITTSBURGH — This is not a rant. He hates that phrasing. Loathes that phrasing.

A rant carries connotations of being ignorant and stupid and, no, Mike Mitchell is none of that. Pissed? Absolutely. Confused to the brink of incensed? Sure. But anyone labeling him dirty, yeah, "screw those people," the Steelers safety says gently. Do your homework, he suggests, and you'll see that his personal fouls are down over his last 50 games.

Worst of all, Mitchell believes his articulate message earlier in the month was shoved into an incinerator and spit out in three-word sound bites, completely warping his point.