Cincinnati Bengals

Steelers Need to Hurt Vontaze Burfict Before He Hurts Them

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:12 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Matthew Krivanek/FanSided via Still Curtain

Vontaze Burfict has continually proven that his goal is to take out the opposing team’s best players. If the Steelers don’t take action this Sunday, Burfict will deal Pittsburgh yet another season-altering injury.

From one vantage point, the Bengals’ season is finished. At 5-7-1, they have no chance at reaching the postseason.

From another perspective, Sunday is Cincinnati’s Super Bowl. What better way to wrap up the season than to sabotage the hated Steelers, remove them from atop the AFC North, and potentially ruin their playoff hopes altogether?

Vengeance will be on the minds of the Bengals, who lost in Pittsburgh earlier this year and still can taste last season’s Wild Card game. Conversely, Vontaze Burfict had better be on the minds of the Steelers.

Burfict is the human equivalent of cow manure. While he may have a practical use (e.g. playing linebacker well), he’s ultimately just filthy excrement.

Knocking out Antonio Brown. Diving at Ben Roethlisberger’s ankles. Catapulting himself into Le’Veon Bell’s leg. A litany of instances against other teams as well. Burfict is, quite literally, a cheap shot artist. And he loves practicing his craft against the Steelers more than anybody else.

Those who still defend Burfict are either Bengals fans or simply in denial. #55 injures – at the very least, attempts to – other players regularly. Burfict can issue all the phony apologies he wants, but the truth is clear.

Sunday offers Burfict the ideal opportunity to do it again. With the home crowd behind him and a hot Steelers team in need of a party crashing, Burfict has all the ingredients needed for a season-changing cheap shot.

Pittsburgh must be on high alert if they wish to avoid yet another Burfict-induced injury. Protection for Roethlisberger is paramount, especially when the play breaks down. Runners need to step out of bounds when the stripe-covered cow dung is near.

Still, Burfict owns a PhD in injuring opponents. No matter how tactically the Steelers offense plays, he’s going to do the deed. It pains me to advocate the harming of another opponent, but Burfict has given Pittsburgh no other option.

The Steelers need to let the Bengals know that Burfict’s shenanigans won’t be tolerated. If it takes a 15-yard penalty in order to accomplish this, so be it. Have Roosevelt Nix spear Burfict into the ground. Tell David DeCastro to club him in the neck when he comes on the blitz. Jesse James can casually chop block him.

Instigating Burfict seems foolish, but he’s going to injure somebody whether the Steelers play nicely or not. After Sunday, it’s highly likely that Pittsburgh loses Roethlisberger, Brown, or Bell for at least a couple of weeks.

The best way to overcome a bully is to punch them right back. It doesn’t take a fortune teller to surmise that Burfict is going to play dirty again. The Steelers need to mentally and physically drain him before he goes for his home-run cheap shot. They may need to take one of their own.

Is it noble to target another player? No. But Burfict has made a career out of it, and retribution is needed.

Besides, Burfict’s not another player anyway. He’s a piece of shit.

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