Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has a reputation for being a dirty player, and he did nothing to change his image during Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers — at least in the eyes of Ben Roethlisberger.
On one questionable play, Burfict hit Roethlisberger below the knees just after Ben got rid of the ball. Roethlisberger said Burfict told him during the game that he was pushed and said “my bad,” but the Steelers quarterback doesn’t believe it after seeing the video.
“I don’t buy that he was pushed,” Roethlisberger said during his weekly spot on KDKA-FM Tuesday, via Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He definitely was diving in low and going for my legs. It’s tough. I am just glad I didn’t get hurt.”
You be the judge:
How could this hit by Vontaze Burfict not be a penalty. Watch this cheap shot as he targets Ben's ankle pic.twitter.com/O4ZcT1FC5m
— Charlie Batch (@CharlieBatch16) December 13, 2015
Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap had his left hand on Burfict’s back, but it looked like Burfict started his dive before that. It certainly didn’t look like he was pushed to the point where he couldn’t control his own body.
“There has to be a level of professionalism when you play guys,” Roethlisberger continued. “You never want to intentionally hurt somebody. Yeah, do you want to play the game as physical as you can and try to win the game, yes. But never to intentionally harm somebody or put somebody out of the game or end their season or their career. That’s just not the way game should be played.”
Burfict, of course, is the same guy the Steelers accused of celebrating when Le’Veon Bell went down with a season-ending injury. He later got into it on Twitter with a Steelers player, which led to the scrum that broke out before Sunday’s game.
This isn’t the first time Burfict has been accused of making a dirty play, and it would be surprising if it was the last.
