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On Vontaze Burfict's "late hit" on Joe Flacco

Taking a look at Vontaze Burfict's late hit on quarterback Joe Flacco in the fourth quarter.

By Josh Kirkendall
Rob Carr

With 5:22 remaining in regulation, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco scrambled. Eventually the 100-million dollar quarterback sprinted towards the left sidelines and stayed in bounds long enough to pick up four yards. As he's closing in on the out of bounds marker, linebacker Vontaze Burfict launched and while in mid-air, Flacco stepped out of bounds just prior to Burfict's contact that knocked the quarterback over.

Burfict1_medium

Burfict2_medium

Burfict was called for a personal foul, giving the Ravens a new set of downs from the Bengals 42-yard line.

"He was still in bounds," Burfict said after Cincinnati's 20-17 loss in Baltimore. "He kept trying to go for yards. I didn't hit him aggressively. I put my helmet across the bow and made a clean play. The funny thing is, I was on their sideline, and I think it was the defensive coordinator, and he pushed me. I was thinking, ‘Come on, man. You should have a little more class than that.’ And I will try to turn that into the league."

Fortunately the play didn't have much of an impact. After an incomplete and Rice Rice no-gain, Carlos Dunlap stripped the football away from Flacco for the turnover.

The penalty was Burfict's fifth personal foul (sixth if you include the face mask against the Bills) this season and eighth overall, leading the team in both.

Hopefully it goes without saying, with the GIF above, that the call was horrendous. When Dan Dierdorf, who calls Bengals games like he's being punished by CBS, agrees that it's a bad call... it's a bad call. But I'll let my passive aggressive perspective feed into that monster.

The officiating was just bad. The Bengals had 114 yards in penalties in the first half and 134 yards overall.

"I just don't know how they can be so lopsided all the time," Lewis said. "It was six- or seven-to-one in the first half, and they were huge plays." Every scoring drive featured a significant penalty for the Ravens.

And during a quarterback sack in the second half, Carlos Dunlap was called for a horse-collar.

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