The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals hate each other. The rivalry has gone back quite some years and the hatred continues.
Not known for throwing monster blocks, JuJu Smith-Schuster got a monster hit on Vontaze Burfict, who’s known for throwing cheap shots. Under pressure and in the pocket, Ben Roethlisberger threw a ball to Le’Veon Bell and the first down was in sights. Burfict was unaware that Schuster was coming from his blindside when he got destroyed by the wide receiver.
The craziest part is JuJu stood over him and taunted after the fact, getting himself flagged on the play for unnecessary roughness and the taunt.
Meanwhile, Burfict was carter off the field and taken the locker room for diagnosis.
One thing is for sure, Vontaze will not forget this and you can bet the next time these two teams play each other, someone will get injured.
Though he was flagged for the hit, it wasn’t a helmet-to-helmet incident and almost appeared legal. But at the rate of how players have been getting injured and with CTE such a big topic of discussion, the league is trying to prevent dangerous plays from happening.
You can bet Smith-Schuster will be fined and maybe even suspended.
UPDATE: According to ESPN, the NFL has suspended Smith-Schuster for one game for his hit on Burfict. The league argues that Vontaze was defenseless when he got hit and they are trying to crack down from these types of unnecessary roughness penalties moving forward.