As the Steelers running back continues to recover from a right foot injury, coach Mike Tomlin suggested that his status is trending toward doubtful for the AFC divisional playoff game against the Broncos.
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“I know if you just got knocked out you’re not gonna be able to wink at me and tell me you’re OK, I know that”, Jones added. That probably means little to the Steelers one way or another, because they’re still in playoffs and Pacman isn’t.
Jones was penalized after he got into an altercation with Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter, who had come onto the field at the same time Brown was being tended to by medical staff.
Cy Brown writes about soccer and other stuff for Sports on Earth.
Burfict has been called for four unnecessary roughness penalties this season and already had been fined four times this season for violations of player-safety rules. “And he plays very well within the rules, and we have to keep doing that”.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for those guys”, left tackle Andrew Whitworth said of the Steelers.
Now Jones says he’ll apologize to Brown…but only under certain circumstances. If the suspension is upheld at three games, Burfict would be facing a loss of $502,941 worth of salary.
According to Jim Colony of 93.7 The Fan (h/t Colin Dunlap), Steelers guard David DeCastro also said Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict spit on him in the midst of Pittsburgh’s 18-16 victory.
Spitting on opposing players has occurred before in the National Football League; in 1997, Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski spit in the face of 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes after a pileup in which Stokes said Romanowski pulled on Stokes’ groin.
The NFL on Monday suspended Burfict for three games of the 2016 season because of multiple issues with unsportsmanlike conduct.
With the National Football League emphasizing player safety in recent years, they really had no choice but to drop the hammer on Burfict.
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When asked about those two specifically, he said, “Both players couldn’t be more heartbroken, literally to tears about what went on”.
