Will the NFL be suspending or fining Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict again in the very near future? While it’s hard to say for sure, a Monday afternoon report from Adam Schefter of ESPN states that the league is reviewing three plays from Sunday’s game between the Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers that involved Burfict to determine an appropriate level of discipline.
Schefter goes on to report that one of the plays was the hit to head and neck area of Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown by Burfict in the third quarter. Two other plays the league will reportedly take a closer look at of Burfict include him leading with his helmet.
What’s interesting is that Schefter’s report comes just a few hours after Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that league isn’t expected to suspended Burfict for any of his actions on Sunday. In short, Rapport reported that several plays that included Burfict would be reviewed for potential fines.
With Burfict already being a multi-time offender, it makes one wonder why the Bengals linebacker would only be fined if any of his questionable plays from Sunday are deemed as him playing illegally.
The plays that both Schefter and Rapoport are referencing as possibly being up for review by the league likely come from the lot that I posted earlier on Monday. The hit on Brown was the most obvious infraction of the group. Additionally, and as I pointed out, Burfict led with his helmet a few times during Sunday’s game with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and running back James Conner being targets on two of those.
We should know by Wednesday what kind of punishment, if any, Burfict received from the NFL in Week 7 stemming from their review of his Sunday Week 6 play against the Steelers.
On Monday, several Steelers players reportedly spoke out against the play of Burfict on Sunday with a few suggesting he should be subject to some sort of punishment from the league.
