Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s five-game suspension reduced to just three games. Ian Rapoport broke the news via twitter about the reduced suspension.
#Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict had his suspension reduced from 5 games to 3 games, a source said. He was informed today.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 30, 2017
“Burfict originally was suspended five games earlier this month for an illegal hit on Kansas City fullback Anthony Sherman. According to the official press release on the suspension, Burfict violated the rule protecting defenseless receivers as they run pass routes. Here is part of the official press release.
Burfict’s actions violated Rule 12, Section 2, Article 7 (a) (2) which states that it is a foul if “a player initiates unnecessary contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture. (a) Players in a defenseless posture are: (2) A receiver running a pass route when the defender approaches from the side or behind. If the receiver becomes a blocker or assumes a blocking posture, he is no longer a defenseless player. His actions also violated Rule 12, Section 2, Article 6, (g), which prohibits “unnecessarily running, diving into, cutting, or throwing the body against or on a player who (1) is out of the play or (2) should not have reasonably anticipated such contact by an opponent, before or after the ball is dead”
Burfict is no stranger to being penalized for these kinds of actions. He has to pay numerous fines for different unnecessary roughness calls in the past. He missed the first three games of last season for a hit on Steelers receiver Antonio Brown.
Burfict has had solid numbers over during his tenure in the league. The former Arizona State Sun Devil has over 500 combined tackles in just five years with the Bengals. Burfict will be able to rejoin the team on September 25.
Some of the Bengals players have a bad reputation of playing dirty. This situation adds fuel to the fire to people who believe this way. If the Bengals are to ever to make a run in the playoffs, they need to get the locker room situation figured out. There are some great players on this team, but a few bad apples can spoil the entire batch.
