You knew Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals would get chippy. But the AFC North rivals took things to another level Monday night.
In the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind, 23-20 win, Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster leveled Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict with a vicious crack block.
The slo-mo replay looks even worse. Smith-Schuster leads with his helmet and makes direct contact with Burfict’s facemask, then stands over him in celebration.
Smith-Schuster got two penalties on the play for unnecessary roughness and taunting (the taunting penalty was accepted), while Burfict left the game with a head injury and did not return.
There is, of course, a backstory here: Burfict has been on the business end of a number of dirty hits — including one on Antonio Brown that knocked out the Steelers’ star wideout in last season’s AFC Wild Card Game.
So, as Smith-Schuster tried to apologize for his hit on Burfict in the locker room, Brown interjected his own opinion on the play.
Looks like we know how Brown feels about Burfict getting, in his mind, a taste of his own medicine. The All-Pro receiver wouldn’t admit that his “Karma” chirps were directed at Burfict, but yeah, they were directed at Burfict.
“I ain’t talking about nobody,” Brown said, via ESPN.com. “Karma is karma. Karma is in life. You do the wrong things, you get the wrong things out of it.”
When asked about Smith-Schuster’s block specifically, Brown responded simply, “I like that. I like that.”
The brutal hit came after Pittsburgh’s Ryan Shazier and Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon already had exited the game with head and neck injuries in what was an uncomfortably violent game.
