By G.Stryker
Steeler fans know that their biggest rivalry lies with the Baltimore Ravens. For the past 3 years, the most dangerous matchup has been against the Cincinnati Bengals. Unlike a game against the Ravens, where the teams don’t like, but respect each other, and play hard within the rules, games against the Bengals usually resort to a backyard brawl, or MMA fight. No respect, big hits, and defenders attempting to knock players out of the game, either within the whistles or just after.
This past game in Cincinnati was no exception. The Bengal defense, started the game playing hard nosed defense with high intensity. The Bengals offense moved the football down the field for a touchdown, before the Steelers starting matching that intensity, but once they got their ground game going, this match turned into a prize fight. On James Conner’s first touchdown run, Vontaze Burfict appears to knee Conner in the head and then straddled his neck as he attempted to stand up, which let to a push where Burfict takes the charge, and a scrum ensues. From that moment on, Burfict’s play got ugly.
Not to be outdone by one possible infraction, Vontaze lowered his head on one strike to Conner, and on a 3rd and 2 attempt that was blown dead due to a timeout. Burfict lowered his head to initiate helmet to helmet contact on Ben Roethlisberger, but Ben bounced off his lineman, and Burfict went screaming past him. A play that only the referees missed, Burfict went forearm and shoulder first into the head of Antonio Brown. He also hit his teammate Jessie Bates helmet to helmet on the same play. Both Bates and Brown laid on the ground for a moment and had to come off the field, but returned shortly after being reviewed by their respective teams. Now Burfict’s recklessness is starting to affect the well being of his own teammates!
A couple Boyd TDs for the Bengals and a couple Conner TDs for the Steelers had the game knotted at the half. After a few Pittsburgh FGs, deep into the 4th quarter, Joe Mixon scores the go ahead touchdown with 1:18 left on the clock. It looked like the cardiac cats were going to pull another late game victory out of their hats, but not so fast. A Dre Kirkpatrick hold on Brown, gave the Steelers offense new life on a 3rd and 10 incompletion.
After 2 big pickups to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Steelers found themselves in field goal range with 15 seconds remaining, holding 2 timeouts, with an attempt to shorten the kicking distance. The Steelers line up with 4 wide receivers in a 2 by 2 set, and bring AB in motion to sidecar Justin Hunter on a stacked set on the left. At the snap of the ball the defender engages Hunter, and Brown runs a slant behind the block for a wide open, 31 yard touchdown with no safety in site. For some reason, the Bengals chose to biltz 7 players while having no safety back to help against the pass. The rest was just a pitch and catch between Big Ben and Brown to win a tightly contested divisional game.
After the game there were plenty of nuggets to be heard and added to the bulletin board wall:
- Bobby Hart was recorded saying: “TJ Watt Sucks”
- Dre Kirkpatrick “That wasn’t a hold” The refs shouldn’t have called that”
- Dre Kirkpatrick “We’re better than them. They ain’t better than us. Period.”
- During the game, Ben Roethlisberger overhears Vontaze Burfict talking to JuJu Schuster-Smith “He’s next” immediately after hitting AB in the head.
Sorry to inform you Dre, but after that game, you did hold, and the Steelers were clearly the better team. They now not only get to enjoy the victory, but they get to walk by that bulletin board filled with japes and sour grapes to help motivate them fo the week 17 matchup. The final question is: Will Burfict be suspended or fined for his play?
