In the aftermath of Saturday's Steelers-Bengals playoff game, which featured a number of controversial hits and conflicts, THE MMQB's Peter King writes in an open letter to NFL players, "Take care of yourselves. Take care of your game." King references some of the incidents he saw in the final 17 minutes of the game:
- Steelers LB Ryan Shazier hitting Bengals RB Giovani Bernard "with the crown of his helmet."
- Bengals RB Jeremy Hill "running on the field and trying to fight or somehow challenge four different Steelers."
- Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict "trying to drive a knee into the injured shoulder" of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger while sacking him.
- Burfict "leading with his shoulder, ramming defenseless" Steelers WR Antonio Brown.
- Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter on the field "jawing with assorted Bengals" until Bengals CB Adam Jones "burst past an official to challenge Porter."
King writes, "This was the lesson from the climax of this playoff game: Stop at nothing to win, even if it means concussing the opposition. Taunt your foes. Hit them with the crown of your helmet. Sneak onto the field to induce them into a penalty. ... Demean yourselves. Shame your former coaches and your parents. Show them if you win the game, it’s all good. All’s fair in love and football." This type of behavior "could someday kill the game, but your peers, few though they may be, keep playing this way" (
MMQB.SI.com, 1/12).
POWDER KEG: In Pittsburgh, Rob Rossi wrote the NFL is "starting to look like English football once did. Unruly. Dangerous." The end to Steelers-Bengals "wasn't as weird as the fourth quarter was frightening." Rossi: "I wasn't alone among reporters fearing a riot might break out." The NFL has been "courting an in-stadium tragedy since its TV ratings-inspired decision to stage most playoff games in the late afternoon or evening." The stands "sure seemed like an uncontrollable environment Saturday night, a toxic mash of intoxication and negative energy with bad calls served up as the chaser" (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 1/11).
WHISTLE STOP: PRO FOOTBALL TALK’s Mike Florio said Steelers-Bengals showed the influence referees have on the outcome of games is "very real." Refs during the regular season indicated that they "don't like to eject players because they don't want to do anything to affect the competitive balance." But that "did not stop the officials on Saturday night in Cincinnati," as they threw "flag after flag in an effort to control that game." Florio: "When it came down to it, the flag on Vontaze Burfict for a close call, illegal hit on a defenseless Antonio Brown; a flag on Pacman Jones for running into an official; and no flag on Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter for being out on the field and lingering out on field far longer than he should have. It just shows that the discretion that the men in black and white have can determine the outcome of a game, which in the postseason determines the outcome of a season" (“PFT," NBCSN, 1/11).
