Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict is on board with the belief that he’s a target of referee provocation.
Burfict said Friday that he feels referees are trying to get a rise out of him, and said he has to stop himself from letting them get to him.
“The refs, they come up to me, talking to me disrespectfully, wanting me to curse back at them, but me cursing back at them isn’t going to help me,” Burfict said, via Laurel Pfahler of ESPN. “I’m not going to get a flag in my favor next time around, but that’s the way they handle business, I guess. I told Coach I’m just going to try to stay out of the refs’ way.”
Burfict also defended himself after his ejection for making contact with officials in last Sunday’s game.
“I knew I didn’t do anything bad,” Burfict said. “Obviously, you are not supposed to touch the officials, but I didn’t think I touched him maliciously at all. I pretty much said, ‘Excuse me.'”
We already had an inkling that Burfict felt this way, and at least some of his teammates are taking his side. Given his lengthy history — which he can’t blame on anyone else — he has to understand that he’s never going to get the benefit of the doubt from officials.
