Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict hit Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger below the knees Sunday following a pass attempt in the first quarter of the game between the the two teams and the veteran signal-caller isn’t very happy about that cheap shot.
In his weekly Tuesday morning interview on 93.7 The Fan, Roethlisberger recalled the attempted dirty hit by Burfict. He said that after Burfict went into his legs that the Bengals linebacker said he was pushed, however, after being shown a video replay of the play in question by a former teammate after the game, he knows differently.
“He [Burfict] said, ‘I got pushed into you, my bad.’ and the official just kind of nodded like, ‘Yeah, ok.’ So, I just went about my day, didn’t think anything of it…I turned my phone on afterwards and one of the texts I got from a former player and a friend of mine says, ‘How is this not a fine or a penalty by Burfict?’ And he showed me the clip of it. And since then, I have seen the clip, and I don’t buy that he was pushed. You know, I think that he definitely was diving in low and going for my legs,” Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers quarterback later implied that he doesn’t have much respect for Burfict and you certainly can’t blame him for that.
“It’s tough. There’s got to be a level of professionalism when you play guys,” said Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger also made it known that he was sad to hear the Bengals fans cheer Sunday afternoon after Steelers safety Will Allen and nose tackle Steve McLendon were both injured after sacking quarterback A.J. McCarron later on in the game.
“They were on the ground and the Bengals fans were cheering and I just remember looking around like, ‘That’s sad.’ You know, because that’s not what it’s about. I understand you want to win a football game, but you never want guys to get hurt. We’re out here for the entertainment and to play a game, not to try and injure each other,” he said.
We could find out as early as today if Burfict will have to pay a fine for going low on Roethlisberger even though the Bengals linebacker wasn’t flagged on the play.
