The Pittsburgh Steelers won and Vontaze Burfict did something stupid. Ah, all is right with the world.
It was a tough Sunday for the Cincinnati Bengals. They suffered a 16-12 loss to the Buffalo Bills in front of their home crowd, knocking them to 3-6-1 and nearly out of playoff contention. A.J. Green may be done for the year and Gio Bernard is almost certainly gone after it was revealed he suffered a torn ACL.
So Burfict, in a moment of anger/frustration/being himself, took issue with someone in the stands. Let’s go to the tape.
Standard forewarning. You’re about to see someone flip off the crowd so if your boss is over your shoulder, wait a minute. A friendly heads up from the Steelers Depot staff.
To be fair and clear, it’s unknown exactly who Burfict was flipping the bird to, Bills or Bengals fans. That won’t matter in the eyes of the league and Burfict should be expecting a fine from Roger Goodell this week.
Pro Football Talk highlighted past examples of players who were fined for uh, expressing themselves.
“Most recently, former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel was fined $12,000 for firing a middle finger toward the Washington sideline during a 2014 preseason game. Former Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk was fined $10,000 for shooting a middle finger toward his own sideline in 2011. (Maybe it was meant for the quarterback.)”
It will be the second fine of this season for Burfict, who was hit with a hefty $75K fine for stomping on LeGarrette Blount back in October. This act is less egregious, both in decision and punishment, but another mark that Burfict has rarely been able to control himself throughout a season.
Burfict will have plenty of time for off-the-field antics come January when his team is sitting at home from the playoffs.
