In his seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, linebacker Vontaze Burfict had quite a few battles with the Pittsburgh Steelers, creating quite a reputation for himself not only in the Steel City as Public Enemy No. 1 but also in the NFL as a whole as many considered him the dirtiest player in the NFL.
There was the ugly tackle on Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell in 2015 along the sideline that ended Bell’s season with a torn MCL, and there was the hit on wide receiver Antonio Brown late in the 2015 Wild Card game that left him concussed. Of course, a few years later, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster got Burfict back with a thunderous blindside block, standing over the Bengals’ linebacker in the process that created quite the image.
For all the negative headlines and attention Burfict drew, it was often overlooked that he was a good football player. In 2013, he led the NFL in tackles and was a second-team All-Pro linebacker.
He was quite the story coming out of Arizona State, too, due to his high number of personal foul penalties and insane production. One of the key reasons he was so productive at Arizona State was his ability to study the film and be as prepared as possible.
That carried over into the NFL, where he found “tells” from opposing players. One of those players he found a “tell” on pre-snap was former Steelers’ offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva.
Villanueva was the Steelers’ starting left tackle from 2015 through 2020 and was quite good, earning trips to the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018. But that didn’t stop Burfict from finding a tell.
Appearing on the Jon Gruden Barstool YouTube page in a sitdown with the former NFL head coach, Burfict stated that he found a tell on Villanueva—though he couldn’t exactly remember his name—that allowed the Bengals to know when it was a run or a pass.
The year is unclear, too, but take a listen.
“It matters if we see it on film. Like when we played the Steelers, the dude, I forget his name, Val [Villanueva]. He’s long, and his left foot’s always back in pass,” Burfict said of the tell he discovered on Villanueva, according to video via Gruden’s Barstool YouTube page. “So there was tendencies for us, but not every team.”
Maybe Burfict did find it, but looking back through some of the tape from that time, it’s really hard to find a clear example of it. The best I can find that even comes close is in the 2015 Wild Card Round matchup in Cincinnati, which was at the end of Villanueva’s first year as a starter.
At times, Villanueva’s stance was shorter and coiled in the run game. In the passing game, Villanueva would lengthen out his anchor leg (left leg), which would seemingly help him jump into his pass sets quicker and deeper, helping him protect the edge.
Take a look. Again, it’s hard to truly see the difference, but it’s the best I could find.
Of course, Villanueva allegedly having that “tell” in his game between run and pass based on how his stance would be never really helped the Bengals during Burfict’s tenure opposite Villanueva.
From 2015 through 2018, Burfict’s last season in Cincinnati, the Steelers went 8-1 against the Bengals, including that thrilling 18-16 Steelers’ victory in the Wild Card matchup.
So, maybe Burfict found something on Villanueva that helped key the Bengals’ defense on run versus pass. But the results don’t show that as the Steelers largely did whatever they wanted in the rivalry in those four seasons, dominating in that stretch, dropping just one game, which came in November 2015 after losing Bell to the torn MCL.
After that, it was all Steelers in the rivalry, including that 2015 Wild Card matchup in which the Bengals’ defense melted down significantly late in the game with penalties.
