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No. Optics and the the "temperature in the room" should not have one single thing to do with meting out fair punishment.
We're from different schools of thought on this I guess. Repeat offenders don't get leniency. The Bengals Steelers are way past first level disciplines. All of their players should know this.
If you want to invoke repeat offender into the equation you are talking "team" because you surely can't be talking about JuJu or Iloka, neither of whom have had a prior offense.
Except JuJu shouldn't "get his".
They absolutely haven't decided it's up to the teams to police themselves. They've done the opposite. If this exact play took place last week against the Packers, he gets flagged and probably fined. No suspension. The NFL is sending a message.
They already did that. If someone is going to characterize JuJu's hit as retribution, then clearly Iloka's was payback for the payback. As long as the Bengals see themselves as the aggrieved party, they're liable to keep lashing out. They ought to try doing it on the scoreboard instead for a change.
That’s the thing with the Bengals. They’d rather lose the game and come out ahead on the hit meter.
Serious Q... what's the worst pre-Burfict cheap shot from a Bengal on a Steeler? Like the the first couple you remember.
I know where this is headed. I'm not interested in going through Kimo von Oelhoffen and Hines Ward for the 600th time. If you want to make the claim that Burfict is within his rights to clobber people in the head, twist ankles, or whatever else he does because he's avenging years of abuse suffered by the Bengals, go for it.
I'm not arguing he's right or good. I'm arguing that in the NFC North that's the price of doing business. And Burfict is the only Bengal I can recall who understands that if you're not giving those back you've lost the game before it starts. And that the only difference between Burfict and all those guys you love is the rings and the brand.
You do realize that in the letter the NFL sent to JuJu where they suspended him, they said the taunting was part of the reason for the suspension? So please stop you who want to remotely think that JuJu standing over someone, definitely taunting, is NOT a reason for suspension; because the NFL has already said it is. Stop that nonsense this second, for your sake, as well as, well er, just for your sake.
Please. Take this noise to Jungle Fever or whatever the Bengals message board is. Burfict has been a dirty player his whole life. There's a reason he went undrafted. Ask Matt Barkley what he thought about Burfict in high school if you want to hop in the Wayback Machine.
Oh please. JuJu and Iloka hits were both dirty as ####. Stop being a homer. 1 game sounds right.
Not being a homer. I don't think JuJu or Iloka should have been suspended, I think they each "took one for the team" here. I do, however, think Iloka's hit was worse than JSS. He clearly targeted the head intentionally while Burfict got hit in the chest initially before JuJu's helmet came up under his chin. If you want to start suspending people for taunting, that's a different discussion.
Or James Harrison's girlfriend. She's got some good stories too I hear.
Ward was never suspended or even ejected that I can recall.
Yes. He led with his shoulder and hit him square in the chest. Iloka launched as well, but led with his head and targeted AB's helmet. If Burfict had popped right up after that block and Antonio had been carted off on that hit, it would be a very different narrative today. VERY different.
No. There was an incomplete pass where the defender decided to go for a hit on Brown instead of trying to intercept the ball that hit him (the defender) in the shoulder pad.
The intent commentary revolved around whether or not he meant to hit Burfict in the head. I don't believe he did. He was wrong to stand over him like he did and he deserved to be penalized. I just don't think it warranted a suspension equivalent to Gronkowski's.
JuJu may have gotten away with the hit had he not acted like an asswipe and stood over him like he did. He didn't even try to pass it off as anything other than revenge. Seriously dumb move by the kid. Like the Hines Ward mentality with the blocking. He should study Ward on tape and learn how to make it look like he's just a hard-nosed player.
He's only 21 and he's already an advanced blocker, route runner and doesn't really have a history of being an asswipe. He'll learn from this. Dude is going to be a stud.
I was 100% with you until the bolded. If a hit is legal it doesn't matter how violent it looks. Some of the worst looking hits (when not helmet to helmet) are typically not that big of a deal for the players.
Guessing you haven't read any articles about the situation. The NFL investigator found the victim to be untrustworthy and found correspondence between her and a friend with her saying she'd get back at him for dumping her and blackmail him. Prior to that she had no injuries, and after that she did. This lead the investigator to recommend no suspension because she didn't believe her version of events.
People are trying to look at this in a vacuum. If JuJu did the same thing in a game against the Bears he might not even have gotten fined. But taken in the context of the war waging between the Bengals and Steelers, who received the hit, and the taunting escalates the situation. As I posted earlier, the league and the refs need to reign in the cheap shots, dirty plays, and violent hits between these teams before someone suffers a career ending injury. That's why he got suspended . . . and why actions by other players where there is no long standing feud got only one game (or fined) even if what they did might be viewed as a greater infraction.
AJ Green attacked a player and threw him down and started punching him. In reality though he only did what is done on almost every play when he threw him down..then the punches were to his helmet and had zero impact. The player was still ready to fight Green after it was over and was good to go. Still should have been gone one game though.
I honestly think the only ones talking/thinking about "revenge" and being all
about these types of plays are people in online message boards. I think the player's couldn't care less.
I think that statement it totally incorrect. I played college hockey and even at that level revenge was talked about and was sweet however long it took. Players never forget. You see it all the time in MLB as well. Stuff carried over from the previous seasons.I honestly think the only ones talking/thinking about "revenge" and being all
Revenge? Please. This is a job. Most of these guys don't even like playing football
People talking revenge as if this is a television show or something along those lines. I know sometimes the media builds these rivalries to be something of the equivalent of a man's soap opera, but realistically I think most players are just trying to put on a show and/or get their game check and move on.
