FanPost

Vontaze Burfict is BAD, but that is good

For over a decade, I recruited High School Football players to play Division I College Football. My region was primarily California and the Western States. In 2007, I saw one of the most dominating Linebackers to play High School Football: Junior out of Centennial/Corona - Vontaze Burfict. A natural knack of not only finding the ball, but blowing up the play and crushing opponents with brutal hits.

Fast forward to 2012 and the NFL Draft is watching one of the best Linebacker talents slowly drop from 1st to 7th Round without being selected and finally, dropping off and becoming an UDFA. He had an "interesting" career at ASU, but a dominating one none the less. Even though I knew he had some on-field problems, they were mostly the type you want - too physical, fast and too aggressive. I remember every round that the Bengals had a pick thinking, "PICK BURFICT! PICK BURFICT!" I was so excited when we ended up getting him after the draft...a 1st Round talent gotten as an Undrafted Free Agent?!? Steal of the Draft.

Now rewind back to the early 2000's. A Bengals organization coming out of one of the darkest, worst decades of any team. A perennial single digit win record at best. A locker room that was disengaged and a fan base that was disheartened. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel and they were starting to see success.

The Steelers, on the other hand, were in the middle of a revitalized team under Bill Cowher. A team that was consistently on the verge of getting another Super Bowl victory. They came in every week with the pride of past teams on their backs and swagger in there step. On Defense, they had a slew of talent come in and continue the tradition of "tough Steelers football"..."smash-mouth football"..."blitzburgh"...blah blah blah.

As the Bengals began their upswing, the current "bully" on the block wouldn't acknowledge them as a real threat. They would brag as Hines Ward broke Keith Rivers jaw (and we all remember Ward giving that stupid grin), they would laugh about Terrance Garvin breaking Kevin Huber's jaw, they would smile and shrug at Kimo Von Oelhoffen hitting Carson Palmer directly in the knee, tearing his MCL/ACL ending the Bengals chances in the playoffs (while the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl), they would celebrate as Ryan Shazier broke Gio Bernard's jaw and then Shazier would celebrate mid-field while Gio was being attended to by the medical staff...the list goes on and on and on (James Harrison? Mike Mitchell? Polamalu? Clark? Porter? JuJu? etc. etc. etc.)

You try to do things the "right way" but the bully keeps pushing you down...no authority comes in and helps. It's just "boys will be boys" or in this case, "tough Steelers football." But then a new kid moves into your neighborhood...and he is as big and as bad as any bully on the block...but this time, he is YOUR friend. He sticks up for YOU. He goes right up to the bully and punches him square in the face. He doesn't take any crap from the neighborhood bullies and he gives them a taste of their own medicine. Now the bully is scared and naturally, the bully calls foul! The bully gets authority figures to come down hard on the new kid in the neighborhood and parents tell their children to worry about this new kid. But all you can think is, "where was everyone when I was being bullied? How is this a problem NOW but not THEN?"

I've posted here multiple times about how the NFL isn't going to let a small market team with a small national fanbase get to the Super Bowl. They WILL however, move Heaven and Earth for a team like the Steelers to get there. I mean, is there a commercial that doesn't have a Steelers jersey or player in it when it's relating to the NFL?? They are one of the poster-child teams of the NFL and they will keep that train going for them at all cost.

So as far as I'm concerned, I love the fact that we have Burfict on our team. I love the fact that he plays physical, aggressive and brutal football. I love that he's in the head of the whole Steelers team, fanbase and NFL. And yes, he will get suspended again and again or however many times it will take for them to ban him from the NFL.

Maybe I'm just sick of the double standard. Maybe I'm just sick of the bias in the NFL. Maybe I've gone to the dark side and I just don't care anymore.

Had Pittsburgh drafted him, he would have been a perennial Pro-Bowler, been in half a dozen commercials doing Fortnite dances and would be the #1 selling Steelers jersey in recent history...unfortunately for Burfict, he got drafted by the Bengals and instead of his aggressive play being labeled "tough Steelers football" or "smash-mouth football" he's labeled as "dirty."

He is one of the best players on our Defense and he is the heart and soul of that side of the ball....you can disagree if you want...you can also go root for another team. Pittsburgh is always willing to take some new bandwagon fans (I hear the NFL loves them).

As for me, I'm standing behind the kid in my neighborhood who stood up for me.

REC THIS!!!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.