What's up with Vontayze Burfict?

[Louuuuu]

When I sat down to watch my Steelers play the Bengals Saturday evening, I figured the odds were about 50-50 that we would come away with a win. The Bengals are a very good football team. McCarron does a good job. They shut down our passing game, mostly. Yet still we won. If the Bengals would have just played football, the results would have been different.

S.W. Ohio, help me out here. Is Burfict really worth the grief he caused you?

 

[Pacerdad57]

Not really an NFL fan, but that dude needs toned down. One thing to play hard and aggressive,'totally different thing to do stupid things and cost your team a playoff win. Guessing you might see some wholesale changes in that org for next year lol

 

[flygirlsdad]

Burfict plays full speed all the time. I can't say that last hit was intentional. He was turning away from the hit. Watch Deion Sanders take. He agrees with me. I won't expect an honest take from a steelers fan because they are too blinded by their Fandom hence using terms like we won. Why not question Shaziers obviously intentional lead with the crown of his helmet. Why not question why Joey Porter was on the field. He was only there to instigate. In general, this has been the worst year of NFL officiating. How about the td catch that wasnt a catch but still somehow was upheld on replay. How about a steelers coach going after a player on the sideline. Are Porter, Munchak, Shazier, Mitchell worth it to the Steelers.

 

[Louuuuu]

Are Porter, Munchak, Shazier, Mitchell worth it to the Steelers.

Well, yes.

"We won."



(But, I have no explanation for what the h*ll Munchak was thinking. 'Sorry 'bout that one.)

 

[Louuuuu]

Burfict plays full speed all the time.

There's a difference between playing "at full speed all the time" and playing with 'Roid Rage. Does Ndamukong Suh play at full speed all the time, too?

 

[yossarian]

Burfict plays full speed all the time. I can't say that last hit was intentional. He was turning away from the hit. Watch Deion Sanders take. He agrees with me. I won't expect an honest take from a steelers fan because they are too blinded by their Fandom hence using terms like we won. Why not question Shaziers obviously intentional lead with the crown of his helmet. Why not question why Joey Porter was on the field. He was only there to instigate. In general, this has been the worst year of NFL officiating. How about the td catch that wasnt a catch but still somehow was upheld on replay. How about a steelers coach going after a player on the sideline. Are Porter, Munchak, Shazier, Mitchell worth it to the Steelers.

You might be right about all of that. But Burfict has been laying the groundwork for referee bias for a while now. And people are people, officials are people. So in the heat of the moment, flags are going to be thrown more often if a guy's been in the middle of the bullshit all season and all game like Burfict has. Before you think I'm some biased Steeler fan, I'm not. I'm a Bengals fan. The level of bad or no-calls were terrible on both sides, but I think worse toward the Bengals after watching the game through a second time. It almost makes me understand how some people I know think the NFL is rigged sometimes. But in the end, Marvin Lewis doesn't control his players like elite coaches do. The dirtiness, brutality and bad officiating was better managed by Mike Tomlin and his guys.

I agree with Cowher and Esiasan who think Marvin should be gone. But it doesn't work like that with this team. Marvin Lewis is owner Mike Brown's lap dog. He's good enough to fill the stadium 8 times a year plus probably a 9th time like this past Saturday night. But he's not good enough or self-respecting enough to demand the kind of freedom that elite winning coaches do. That's just fine for Mike and Marvin. The best word for both of them is that they're content. Good enough is good enough. That is the difference between the Steelers and the Bengals – committed ownership meets committed coaching. There's nothing burning inside them to make them have to win. It takes more than the right group of players who are gonna make it happen this year. And that's why the Bengals will never get on top and stay on top a while.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

The real issue is the NFL embracing the Thug Life antics that is taking down its brand and image. New rules need to be enacted to give coaches back control over players that make ten times more than they do. You leave the bench during altercation you are ejected and suspended, third man in same thing, run up the runway like an idiot after interception- 15 yard delay of game, jabber jaw in another's face unsportsmanlike conduct, The Thug Life is out of control in the league and condoned and I may stop watching even my team and just follow hockey.... I don't give a darn what the players union fights against of any rule changes as they fight all the stuff anyone would be fired for like guns, assault, drugs, but bringing a bat to warm ups in the Giants game as an example? What can the union say about to defend those antics? It's become a garbage circus that's detrimental to what was once a great brand... I just watched the game last night as a fan of the game and nothing more and was disgusted....

Ok off my soapbox

 

[Louuuuu]

... I just watched the game last night ... and was disgusted....

'Same here. Entering the 4th quarter, even with my team ahead, I turned it off because the game was becoming an embarrassment. I knew something ugly was going to happen, and I didn't want to witness it - unlike the people who watch the Daytona 500 because they know the Big Wreck is going to happen eventually.

 

[jt7663]

It reminds me of a Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Game a few years back when they still had alot of fights to " Self Police" the game. Each team had their fighter or "Goon" as they called them & it got ugly against a game vs the Islanders & their "Goon" was running around head hunting just like Burfict & you knew that someone was going to get hurt. Sure enough in both game someone was KO'd cold on their feet. This Steelers game will probably change alot of the way they officiate all games in the future.

 

[Hilliarddad3]

JT- difference in hockey as it has been, is yes the self policing..... It needs to be a part of the game so pansies like Sydney the Bi#% don't take liberties with his stick like a razor. The enforcers keep it in check when the star is headhunted and fight when they need to and 99% of the time stop when one hits ice with opponent on top of him.But my two cents for those prima donnas is its hockey not the ice capades and everyone should be allowed to be hit. Fighting after your team star is hit with a legal hit needs to go. But even in hockey after each playoff round, they line up and shake hands regardless of hard feelings like the gentlemans game it has a history of.....

 

[flygirlsdad]

My take to any Steeler fan questioning Burfict would be to ask if they ever defended Joey Porter as a player. Did they ever feel he was worthy of a pro bowl or deserve Hall of Fame consideration. Did you want him on your side? Burfict plays like Porter used to. Porter was the most fined player of his time for on field occurrences. That was in an age where fewer calls were made to protect players. To me the incidents by Steeler players and coaches combined shows more of an organization wide issue than what the Bengals may have with a player or 2. But whatever. It's a game. It's over. Gave fans some emotional ups and downs. Won't matter to most people days from now. So you keep thugs, as hilliard dad put it, and their enablers, and the Bengals will keep theirs. Then next year they will play 2 or 3 more games that get an emotional rise out of us, if only for a few hours, only to be forgotten about later.

 

[ech92]

Im a huge Steelers fan ! That being said , Tomlin is a big problem. He encourages the " Thug Life " on his team . I can't believe the Roony's put up with it . I will defend Shazier however as his hit was not illegal ( maybe should be but its not ) , yes Porter should not of been on the field mouthing to the Bengals but if you have any team discipline you ignore it as you reacted just as he hoped you would . Second the Bengal fans keep whining about Steeler coaches on the field when they over look the time when their RB got hurt and they had 9 coaches on the field . The difference in the game is when game was on the line Burfict put himself before his team and decided to take another cheap shot which he does every game !
This was not a game that I felt good about my team winning , I was embarrassed by both sides and as I said before it all starts with the head coaches !

 

[Louuuuu]

My take to any Steeler fan questioning Burfict would be to ask if they ever defended Joey Porter as a player.

No. Never. He's been a #1 A-hole since Day One. But did his actions ever cause his team to lose a game that they should won?

Some people are missing the point that I tried to make in the original post. It's not "Ha Ha. We won. You lost. You suck.". The issue is "Why do teams - any team; Bengals, Steelers, Browns, Colts... - put up with volatile personalities that are of questionable value to the team?"

 

[flygirlsdad]

Teams put up with these players because they help them win games. Shaziers hit was defiantly illegal. It was the type of play the NFL want out of the game for player safety. The NFL even started helping with a program for youth sports called heads up tackling. Shaziers had plenty of time to see his target, who by the way couldn't see him, and still chose to lower his head and dive into the running back like a missle. That is not a tackle. What's worse was Shaziers display on the sideline with cameras on him dancing and mocking a player who was still injured on the field. I haven't seen anyone directly from the NFL say this was a clean hit, just commentators falling on one side or the other. There have also been commentators saying the Burfict hit was not illegal or dirty. But the bottom line is teams will pay the players that help them win.

 

[JoeA1010]

The truth is that Lewis, Tomlin and most of the other NFL coaches, even Coughlin, don't care about this behavior. It's all about one thing, and that's winning. Yes, Burfict and his ilk will cost you with their idiotic behavior at key times, but these coaches are willing to live with it in order to have their services 16 games per year. All the thuggish behavior that offends any normal person is nothing to these coaches. They have fame and fortune and couldn't care less what the fans think.

If it were me, Burfict and Pacman would have been released Monday morning. But then, I might be going 4-12 next year and out of a job, and nobody will care or remember that I stood on principle.

 

[Static_97_North]

I am with joea1010 on this one except they would of been released that night.