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By now, everyone has heard about the ending of the Bengals-Steelers game. Nothing, however, has been said about the Steelers game-winning field goal or the fact that they will be moving on. All of the talk has been about Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and his dirty play.
During the fourth quarter, it looked like the Bengals were finally going to break the streak and move on to the divisional round of the playoffs. When the Steelers got the ball back after a Jeremy Hill fumble, the Bengals were able to keep the Steelers out of field goal range until Burfict hit Antonio Brown. Brown was originally getting tackled by Chris Lewis-Harris when Burfict came out of nowhere and delivered a monster hit Brown. Burfict used his shoulder pad to hit Brown right near the ear hole in his helmet which caused Brown to lie motionless for a few agonizing second and then having him leave the game to undergo testing for a concussion.
In addition to Burfict’s hit on Brown, there was a moment in the game where it looked like he intentionally shoved his knee into Ben Roethlisberger after sacking the quarterback. Roethlisberger was later carted off to the locker room for a shoulder injury before returning to the field. Earlier in the season, Burfict’s hit on Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell was the cause of his injury and why Bell’s season was cut short. Burfict has also been flagged for a hit on Baltimore Ravens tight end Maxx Williams.
This is not Burfict’s first brush with NFL penalties. Burfict has been previously fined four times this season, three of which were fines from their loss against the Steelers in December. He leads the league in unnecessary roughness penalties. Burfict is set to appeal his 3-game suspension although it seems very unlikely that it will be overturned.
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