The Steelers have filed a formal complaint with the NFL and asked the league to look into Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh kicking Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in his right knee late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game in Miami.
Roethlisberger told teammates during the game Suh kicked him. A review of the play on NFL Game Pass confirms his suspicion. On a play late in the fourth quarter, Suh was being blocked by Steelers right guard David DeCastro. When Suh got close to Roethlisberger but did not have his hands free to sack him, he raised his leg and kicked Roethlisberger square in the knee.
"I'm not sure what he was thinking," DeCastro said when asked about Suh's kick. "You'd have to ask him what he was thinking. I heard Ben saying he kicked me, but I didn't really see it until we watched the film."
Suh has a long history of dirty play. He was suspended for stomping on Aaron Rodgers during the 2014 season. He also stomped on the arm of Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith in 2011.
Player safety has been a hot topic this week in the wake of the NFL fining, but not suspending, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict after he stomped on Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount and went in low to the knees of tight end Martellus Bennett on an incomplete pass that was well over his head.
It is not known if the NFL fined Suh for his kick on Roethlisberger. The NFL releases fine information Friday afternoon.
Steelers players seemed more worried about Burfict than Suh on Thursday afternoon. When asked if the NFL is doing enough to protect its star offensive players, offensive lineman Ramon Foster, the Steelers' player rep for the NFLPA, had some pointed words for Burfict and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
"Are they doing enough? Absolutely not," Foster said. "This guy (Burfict) has a known history. They're going to say he's getting targeted because of his history. But he's getting new cases against him. What are Roger Goodell and (his staff) saying about player safety? They're not saying anything about it. You have a known repeat offender getting a $75,000 fine when he has a $20 million contract. That (fine) doesn't matter to him. You fine (Antonio Brown) more for freaking dancing in the end zone than you do when you know for sure that he tried to do that. His history showed he tried to do that.
"It just wasn't the instances in that game. There are other instances that happened that they didn't document _ stepping on shoelaces and instigating stuff. They don't give a (darn) about that. Roger Goodell really needs to come off his high horse and do something about that."
Burfict has a longer history than Suh, especially against the Steelers. Burfict celebrated last fall when Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell suffered a season-ending knee injury. He also dived at the legs of Roethlisberger in a game in Cincinnati after the play was over and was accused by several Steelers of spitting on them. In the AFC wild-card game, Burfict's head shot on Brown knocked Brown out of the game and the next week's playoff game in Denver. That hit, and many other questionable ones over the years, earned Burfict a three-game suspension that he served at the beginning of this season.
Foster said there is a difference in the degrees of dirty play between Suh and Burfict.
"I'll live with Suh way more than I would with Burfict," Foster said. "Burfict is trying to injure guys. I still think his celebration on the tackle with Le'Veon (last year) shows he's trying to injure guys. It changed the whole complexion of that game. It's on film. They see it. But Goodell doesn't give a (darn) about that. He's more worried about the ratings dropping and the owners fattening his pockets. He knows that type of attention brings more viewers for a Cincinnati game."
