Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict says he must change his style of play, after being handed a three-game NFL suspension for rough play.
Burfict told ESPN he thinks he would not have been flagged for his ugly helmet-to-helmet hit on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown if his reputation hadn’t preceded him, but admitted that “I have to change, because it’s getting flags”.
Burfict said of the hit on Brown during the wild-card loss to the Steelers: “Like I told coach [Marvin Lewis], I wish I could take that play back because I probably would’ve hit him low.
“I don’t like hitting low, but I have to change because it’s getting flags because I hit him high or hit him in the helmet, and it’s so hard to determine where to hit the offender because they’re gonna tuck their body, and you have to pretty much tuck with them.”
Burfict was banned for three games of the 2016 season for repeated violations of player-safety rules, with the league citing his hit on Brown as the tipping point.
Burfict hit Brown with 22 seconds remaining in an AFC wild-card game, after Brown failed to catch a pass from Ben Roethlisberger. Burfict was whistled for unnecessary roughness, and Brown sustained a concussion on the play. Brown did not play the following week in Pittsburgh’s AFC divisional-round loss to the Broncos.
The suspension was upheld earlier this month following an appeal, sources told ESPN.
“I tried to pull up at the last second, but it was obviously too late – it’s a bang-bang play,” Burfict said.
This is Burfict’s first suspension, but he’s been handed numerous fines over the past three seasons. The linebacker acknowledged that he has developed a negative reputation around the league, and he said that has an effect on how penalties are called.
“I play hard. Sometimes it gets me in trouble,” he said. “My style of play is aggressive, and [the game has] changed, and I have to change with it, and that play right there, I think if I wasn’t No 55, I wouldn’t have got flagged.”
