Vontaze Burfict blames PED suspension on brutal Steelers block

By Ross Kelly March 18, 2018 at 11:00am

One of the defining games of the 2017 NFL season came in Week 13 when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on “Monday Night Football.”

It was a brutal AFC North affair that featured 20 penalties and the cringeworthy injury to Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier when he ducked his head on a tackle.

Besides that moment, another play that stood out was when the Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict was laid out by JuJu Smith-Schuster with an illegal crackback block.

That play is at the center of Burfict’s defense of a failed PED test in December for which he is facing a four-game suspension.

According to ESPN, the Cincinnati linebacker will argue in his appeal that his positive test came from medication prescribed to him after suffering a concussion on that play and for medication given to him after a shoulder sprain three weeks later.

Burfict’s positive test came on Dec. 27 which, according to him, was after he had already been ruled out for the season. He will argue that he couldn’t have gained a performance advantage because he didn’t play any more games after the failed test.

Smith-Schuster, who was suspended one game for the hit, isn’t buying Burfict’s excuse and isn’t apologizing for laying out the linebacker.

That dude Burfict been on too much Slurp Juice and now tryna blame me 😂😂

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) March 17, 2018

Do you believe Vontaze Burfict's excuse?

Smith-Schuster also reposted a video of the hit with additional video-game like animation.

He is not the only one unlikely to buy Burfict’s reasoning for the failed test as the NFL says no player’s playing status has relevance on banned substances.

Whether a player is active, inactive, on injured reserve or a free agent, he can’t have banned substances in his body.

Also, the league has a procedure in place in which players can get permission to take medications that are otherwise on the league’s banned list.

Additionally, NBC Sports notes that Burfict was not ruled out for the season when the failed test occurred on Dec. 27. An injury report released on Dec. 29 listed Burfict as doubtful, which indicates he still had a chance to play the following week.

He was then ruled out on Dec. 30 and would miss the rest of the season.

There is a host of evidence going against Burfict in his likely appeal of the ruling.

If the suspension stands, he will miss the first four games of the 2018 season and lose more than $1.8 million in salary.

This isn’t the first time that Burfict has run afoul of the NFL, although it’s the first time PEDs have been involved. He was suspended the first three games of the 2017 season after an illegal hit during a preseason game, which violated the league’s player safety policy.

Burfict was also suspended for three games in the 2016 season after an illegal hit on Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown in a playoff game.

Since entering the league in 2012, Burfict has been fined on 12 different occasions, counting this current PED fine and suspension. He’s been suspended for a total of 10 games and has lost more than $4 million in forfeited salary.

If you link this PED fine/suspension to the hit from Smith-Schuster like Burfict is doing, then four of Burfict’s 12 fines have involved games against the Steelers.

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