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Vontaze Burfict committed several personal fouls throughout the 2015-2016 and many could argue that the league missed on a great many others for which he should have been penalized. However the Pittsburgh Steelers have more experience with that than any other team in the NFL.
Vontaze Burfict managed to injure Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger all in one season. While he was only flagged for one of them, Burfict celebrated after injuring Bell in a situation where the only positive for Cincinnati was the fact that Bell was indeed injured. Burfict injured Roethlisberger with a sack that was legal in its initial play, but videos raised questions if he intentionally jammed his knee into Roethlisberger's shoulder after the play was over.
Burfict already was not liked by the Steelers when they faced each other in the playoffs. But he added to it when he threw a devastating head shot to Antonio Brown on a pass that was already past Brown and resulted in Brown being in concussion protocol throughout the rest of the NFL playoffs.
The league acted swiftly in suspending Burfict for three games next season, now that his Bengals were eliminated in the playoffs by their AFC North rival, the Steelers.
Today, the NFL backed up its ruling and turned down Burfict's appeal of his suspension.
Source: Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict’s 3-game suspension upheld by appeals officer Derrick Brooks.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) February 11, 2016
Burfict met Thursday with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, at Burfict's request, to discuss his behavior and what to do going forward.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) February 11, 2016
The Bengals will have to deal without their veteran linebacker for the early portion of the season. Which three opponents the Bengals will face early in the season however, is yet to be determined.