Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals' Mathieu backtracks after slamming fans who blasted him

Published Oct. 19, 2015 4:47 p.m. ET

foxsports

Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu engaged a pair of fans on Twitter following Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, then later said he shouldn't have done so.

Sensitive to criticism he received after Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant burned him for an 88-yard touchdown pass, Mathieu lashed out at one female fan before deleting the tweet soon thereafter.

When ComplexMag retweeted Mathieu's initial posting in which he told the woman, "Girl, you better go sit yo ass down," he tweeted back at the website that he "should have never responded."

@Complex_Sports but seriously she makes it seem like she has more invested in the game than I do. I should have never responded
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) October 18, 2015

Another fan also directed a tweet at Mathieu for his failure to contain Bryant, who finished with six catches for 137 yards and a pair of TDs: "dang, Martavis Bryant really show you wassup man."

Mathieu had a more succinct answer to that tweet, saying simply "I'm still Savage." That post has also been deleted. He also added another posting that appeared to reference the events of the day:

pic.twitter.com/dbk2SvZAcx
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) October 18, 2015

The two fans who drew the ire of Mathieu responded to the publicity the controversy generated in opposite fashion. The woman has since blocked her tweets while the male changed his Twitter handle to ... "I'm still Savage."

Despite starting an aging Michael Vick and eventually needing to replace him at quarterback with unheralded third-stringer Landry Jones, the Steelers (4-2) managed to put 22 points on the board in the second half to down the Cardinals (4-2).