Tag: Vontaze Burfict

Ex-Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict’s anti-Steelers comments stir up drama

Anti-Steelers comments from Vontaze Burfict had social media going wild.

Former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has an extensive history with the Pittsburgh Steelers, to say the least.

Burfict, rarely in the news after his playing days concluded, really only popped up in headlines this past season for responding to comments from Joey Porter Jr., current Steelers cornerback.

Until now.

Now, Burfict’s comments from a Madden stream turned some heads on social media. He, essentially in not-so-kind terms, said he only played dirty against the Steelers because he didn’t like those players and/or the franchise.

One look at Burfict’s fine and suspension sheet — even after his days with the Bengals — reveals this to be an exaggeration, if not a comment made in jest.

Regardless, let’s just say it sparked some reactions, from fans to names like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.

Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict admits he played dirty vs. Steelers

Vontaze Burfict was always one of the dirtiest players in the league.

In the least surprising NFL news of the week, former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict admitted he played dirty when he went against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Burfict made the admission in a TikTok video in which he claimed he didn’t hit players late all the time other than against the Steelers. I’m sure fans of other teams would counter this given his extensive history of fines. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt Burfict always went above and beyond when it came to his dirty play against the Steelers.

In his career, Burfict faced off against the Steelers 10 times. Given that he and the Bengals were 0-5 in the last five, I can understand why even now, more than five years after that last loss, Burfict is still a little bitter.

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Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict responds to Le’Veon Bell’s boxing match request

In weird offseason news, featuring former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict.

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In things that could only make headlines during the quiet parts of the NFL offseason, former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has responded to a boxing match request from one of his former Pittsburgh Steelers rivals.

Former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell recently went on a podcast and said he wants to have a boxing match with Burfict, bringing up at least one play where a Burfict tackle resulted in injury.

Burfict actually responded in an Instagram story, essentially saying the two had a chance to “change the narrative” and solve problems without violence, suggesting a golf match with charities involved.

For what it’s worth, Bell has been involved in boxing exhibitions after his football career, besting fellow former running back Adrian Peterson in a match. He’s 1-1 professionally, the win coming over British YouTuber JMX.

Burfict’s response:

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Bengals’ Vonn Bell’s hit on JuJu Smith-Schuster more about revenge than TikTok dances

Three seasons later, anger still festers in some Bengals players’ minds, and they thought Smith-Schuster should know. 

It’s clear the Cincinnati Bengals were the hungrier team on Monday night. They were more physical in all aspects of the game, especially on defense.

The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2002, revealed in a tweet on Tuesday that his source said the “Bengals went into the game wanting to put some big hits” on Smith-Schuster.

Did they ever!

Bengals safety Vonn Bell blasted Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster late in the first quarter. The hit jarred the ball loose from JuJu’s arms, linebacker Jordan Evans recovered, and three minutes later, Cincinnati scored its first touchdown of the night.

The hit that rocked JuJu wasn’t payback for dancing and spiking the ball on the Bengals logo during pregame warm-ups as much as it was avenging the crackback block Smith-Schuster put on linebacker Vontaze Burfict in 2017.

Smith-Schuster received a one-game suspension for hitting and taunting Burfict, which he appealed and lost.

Three seasons later, anger still festers in some Bengals players’ minds, and they thought Smith-Schuster should know.

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Vontaze Burfict arrested on battery charge in Nevada

Why is Vontaze Burfict in trouble with the law?

Vontaze Burfict found plenty of trouble on the field in the NFL. Now the linebacker is in trouble with the law, according to multiple reports.

The former Cincinnati Bengal has been arrested in Nevada on a battery charge, according to multiple reports citing Clark County court records.

Burfict, who is currently a free agent, was being held on $1,000 bond – per the reports – with a hearing in the case set for Monday.

Per Cincinnati.com:

Burfict, 30, played for the Bengals from 2012 to 2018. After playing four games for the Raiders during the 2019 season, Burfict was suspended without pay for the remainder of the season for “repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules” after a helmet-to-helmet hit on the Indianapolis Colts’ Jack Doyle.

Burfict was reinstated in February from his suspension and was working in various ways to clean up his play for the 2020 NFL season and beyond, according to a report.

 

Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict quietly reinstated by NFL

The former Bengals linebacker quietly got reinstated.

Vontaze Burfict is back (potentially).

While the rest of the world was focused on the events of the NFL combine, word got out that the former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker was reinstated to the league after serving a 12-game ban.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported the news and got word from Burfict’s agent that “the linebacker has spent the offseason watching tape and speaking to coaches, league executives and additional experts about proper code of conduct.”

We had just gotten an amazing look behind the scenes at why the Bengals ever rolled the dice at all on Burfict — including a Ray Lewis comparison — from Marvin Lewis himself.

But at the end of that writeup, we had noted the NFL might never let him play again. Despite reinstatement that remains true, as we’ll have to see if another team takes a risk on him.

After spending last year with the Raiders, Burfict is a free agent this offseason.

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Marvin Lewis explains why Bengals took a risk on Vontaze Burfict

Here’s some insight into how things went down.

In hindsight, plenty have wondered why Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals took repeated risks on Vontaze Burfict over the years.

Burfict, after all, developed into one of the NFL’s most notorious defenders while drumming up more $4 million in fines and suspensions with the Bengals before getting cut, going elsewhere and getting suspended for a year.

Now we have more insight from Lewis himself, courtesy of The Athletic’s Doug Haller:

“’Will you draft him?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Will you take him as a free agent?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Our exposure to him was not huge, but after the first rookie practice, I told (Bengals owner) Mike Brown, ‘He’s as good as where Ray (Lewis) was (at this age.)’ Unfortunately for Vontaze — and he’s supposed to come see me — the game has changed. We spent a lot of time helping him change. I don’t know how much time they spent with him in Oakland helping him change. How to tackle. How to approach playing football, all those things. We spent a lot of time. I studied thousands of plays and coached him on it every day because it’s changed. And he has the perfect build that when he hits you, it’s like getting hit by cement truck. There is no stop. It’s all go. He’s just built perfectly that way. I don’t know that we took much of a chance. Duke Tobin, our director of player personnel, he saw it in him. He wanted me to spend the time. It worked out that he didn’t get drafted. I told (linebackers coach) Paul (Guenther), ‘I got you a guy.’”

Long story short — Burfict wrote Lewis and the Bengals a letter and the parties linked up. Lewis threw in a Ray Lewis comparison and off the two parties went.

Lewis went on in the interview to note what a great person Burfict is off the field, which was always the case during his time in Cincinnati. But Lewis and Co. were never able to get Burfict to adapt his on-field approach and it cost all parties time and again.

Zac Taylor used cutting Burfict as a way to send a message upon arrival. Now the NFL as a whole waits to see if Burfict will ever be allowed to play the game again.

If nothing else, it’s nice to have some insight into the how and why of the Bengals-Burfict marriage.

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Antonio Brown got drilled on the head by a weight machine and still made fun of Vontaze Burfict

OUCH.

Despite facing legal issues and a civil lawsuit alleging sexual assault, Antonio Brown hasn’t given up on his NFL career.

The former Steelers (and Raiders and Patriots) receiver has been working out around his home in Florida to stay in playing shape, but he’s even encountering issues at the gym.

It came in the form of an errant piece of a weight machine.

Brown posted a workout video on Instagram Live, and after benching a casual 315 pounds, he got up only to get drilled on the head by a loose piece of the workout machine’s structure (possibly a piece from a dual cable cross). He later shared a mashup of the video on Twitter just to take a shot at Vontaze Burfict. (NSFW language)

Brown and Burfict, of course, have a heated rivalry going back to the Bengals’ AFC Wild Card meltdown in 2016 — which is still going despite briefly being teammates in Oakland. Burfict injured Brown on an illegal hit in that 2016 playoff game.

Judging from the tweet, Brown wasn’t hurt in the gym accident.

But he’ll have to be more careful out there. The world is dangerous.

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Antonio Brown speaks on the Vontaze Burfict hit

The former Steelers WR commented on the hit by former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Antonio Brown had a lengthy media interview over Super Bowl week and briefly touched on the infamous hit he received by former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.

The hit — which knocked Brown out on the field during a playoff game — doesn’t need much of an explanation, nor do Brown’s actions recently. But the hit was bound to come up in an interview format like this.

Asked by ESPN’s Josina Anderson how he felt about speculation that the hit Burfict delivered has adversely impacted his behavior, Brown said the following:

“Nah, he didn’t hit me that hard. You know, I got up and walked off the field. We won the game, right? I was alright. You play the game long enough, everyone gets hit hard…It’s not like I started being different after the hit.”

Asked if he needs help, from the league or otherwise, Brown said:

“We all need mental help. I’m like an animal in a cage. Like, everyone just talks about me. I can’t go out of my house. … Everything I do is in the face of people…someone making an assumption about me.”

The crux of Brown’s comments in the interview seem to focus on how football centered him toward a goal. Now that he’s been away from it, he’s found it easier to get caught up in stuff that can get him in trouble.

As for Burfict, he joined former Bengals coordinator Paul Guenther in Oakland, took a shot at the Bengals after signing and promptly got himself suspended for an entire season for another dirty hit.

 

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Former Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict rips NFL after Browns-Steelers fight

Vontaze Burfict took aim at Roger Goodell and the NFL.

It was only natural Vontaze Burfict’s name was going to come up.

When the fight between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers went down Thursday night — with suspensions that have a big impact on the Cincinnati Bengals — Burfict started trending on social media.

It isn’t hard to see why the former Bengals and current Oakland Raiders linebacker came up. He was suspended for the year after a hit on Sept. 29.

Burfict spoke out this time by giving a lengthy interview about the situation with Vic Tafur of The Athletic:

“The NFL had to suspend somebody for that last night, since that wasn’t a football act. My suspension was a football act,” Burfict said. “I was hitting somebody. I wasn’t taking a helmet off and swinging it at somebody.”

He continued, noting he turned the game off so his daughters wouldn’t see it: “I don’t want them to see that. Because that’s not what I do. That’s not part of football. I hit people on the field during the game. And they say that’s dirty, yeah, whatever. I get hit, too, during the games, so don’t complain. It’s football, bro.”

Burfict also had some choice words for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and those involved with the decision-making process that resulted in his season-ending ban.

While the former Bengals linebacker said he’s a target and he can’t change the media narrative around him no matter his off-field work, Burfict added he’ll attempt to make a return to the league next season.

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