JuJu Smith-Schuster walks away from the play after leveling Cincinnati's Vontaze Burfict. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Lolley: NFL went overboard with Cincy affair ... and league wasn't alone

By Dale Lolley

Dec 6, 2017 • 2:37 am

9.8K

"Are you not entertained?"

That's the question Maximus yells to the crowd in the Ridley Scott movie, "Gladiator."

Maximus, of course, yells it to the crowd in defiance. I'm yelling it at those who would try to denigrate the game played Monday night in Cincinnati, won by the Steelers, 23-20.

Football is one of the closest things we have to gladiator sports. MMA and, to a lesser extent, boxing, would qualify as well. We watch because we want to see outstanding athletes running, catching and throwing a ball, all under the threat of being tackled by other outstanding athletes. It is called tackle football, after all.

Yet somehow, that game is being called "bad for football," most notably by Jon Gruden, one of the broadcast's announcers on ESPN.

“There’s going to be some fines, there’s going be some stringent discipline," Gruden said after the game from high above his soapbox at Paul Brown Stadium. "Let’s just hope a lot of these men are able to get up tomorrow morning and move on with life. Some of this stuff got out of hand tonight. It’s very disgusting and disturbing.”

Gruden should know all about disgusting and disturbing. He, after all, was head coach in Oakland from 1998 through 2001, when his Raiders were among the NFL's most penalized teams. Then, he moved on to Tampa Bay, where safety John Lynch and defensive tackle Warren Sapp, among others, had a much-deserved reputation as dirty players.

Yeah, Gruden knows dirty play when he sees it.

Now, this is in no way an indictment of Gruden's coaching style. The game has changed -- for the better -- since his days on the sideline.

But to me, his statements about a game he professes to love -- and gets paid handsomely to broadcast -- border strongly on hypocrisy. They also helped fuel the fire for the Steelers' JuJu Smith-Schuster and Bengals' George Iloka to be suspended Tuesday for making football plays.

Somehow, the NFL is equating what Smith-Schuster and Iloka did with what the Patriots' Rob Gronkowski did Sunday when he speared the Bills' Tre’Davious White.

This is not to defend Smith-Schuster or Iloka. Both deserved to be fined. But suspended? Eh.

Smith-Schuster made this block on Cincinnati's Vontaze Burfict:

Standing over Burfict drew a taunting penalty, as well it should have. And there was helmet-to-helmet contact on the block, even though Smith-Schuster led with his shoulder. That is not permitted.

But was it worth a suspension? Not in my eyes. Nor was it "dirty."

The same goes for Iloka's hit on Antonio Brown:

Again, it's unfortunate. But Iloka is trying to break up a game-tying touchdown pass. That's his job.

Both plays deserved to be penalized. Both deserved fines. But suspensions? Not if Gronkowski got one game. And not if Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib got their suspensions reduced to one game for an all-out brawl two weeks ago.

They aren't the same. Not even close.

And those two plays, quite frankly, were the only two questionable plays in this game when it comes to "dirty" plays. This game was not the Steelers vs. Bengals playoff game from two years ago or the regular-season meeting they had earlier that season that was the tinder to that firestorm.

That meeting was "bad for football."

This game was unfortunate in that Ryan Shazier suffered a spinal cord injury. That made everyone who saw it emotional. You couldn't help but see that play and not be emotional.

And there were several other instances where players were injured in the game, including Burfict.

But that's football. Guys get hurt playing the game every week. It's something players have to come to terms with to take part in the sport.

Suspending Smith-Schuster and Iloka is a knee-jerk overreaction, plain and simple.

• Some people are asking when Shazier might return to play. The more important question should be: When will he resume a normal life?

His injury is much bigger than a game. And if he returns to play football this season or next or ever, it would be icing on the cake. But first and foremost, he's got to get healthy.

By all accounts, that could happen. But let's not put the cart before the horse.

• The Steelers are now 19-3 in their past 22 games and have won three of their past four games on last-second kicks by Chris Boswell. Boswell has emerged as one of the league's top placekickers, though he's one nobody talks about nationally.

• To put the Steelers' record over their past 22 games in perspective, realize the Browns have won one of their past 28 games.

Hue Jackson, Cleveland's head coach, had an 8-8 record in one season with Oakland and was fired. He now has a 9-35 career record. For Jackson to get to 16 games over .500, he would need to go 10-6 -- a good but not great record -- for each of the next 10 years.

• Artie Burns had perhaps his best game of the season Monday night. I, and many fans, have been tough on Burns of late. He hadn't played particularly well over the past month. But he certainly did in this game.

• Remember when people were saying Le'Veon Bell didn't look like he had the same burst this season that he showed last year?

Yeah, well, Bell had 184 total yards against the Bengals. He also went into the game averaging 164.7 per game on Monday nights, the best in NFL history, and still managed to increase that average. Priest Holmes is second at 130.3, Barry Sanders third at 126.1.

• Brown makes catches every week that, if they were done by nearly any other receiver, would have us talking about them for weeks. Instead, they're now just expected. His one-handed -- left-handed -- catch in the first quarter went for just a 9-yard gain. But there haven't been many better.

It also moved him past Marvin Harrison for the most catches by a receiver over a five-year period in NFL history. And he still has four games left in this season.

• Brown did what he did in this game without taking a shot in his injured big toe on his right foot. And he suffered the sprained toe -- not turf toe -- early in last weekend's win over Green Bay. He just continues to build his Hall of Fame resume.

• Vince Williams, nobody thought you had seven sacks in you.

We all could have gotten really, really good odds on Williams being the linebacker to lead the Steelers in sacks this season. He's got a two-sack lead on both T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree. Not bad for a player who isn't on the field on obvious passing downs all the time.

• The Bengals did a nice job of disguising their defenses prior to the snap, putting a safety in the box and then having him sprint deep or stay close to the line at the snap. Ben Roethlisberger attempted to be patient and get them to declare their intentions. But he also narrowly avoided delay of game penalties on several occasions by doing so.

That said, Roethlisberger seemed to get a bead on what the Bengals were doing in the second half.

• Martavis Bryant's 96-yard kick return was called back because of an iffy penalty on J.J. Wilcox -- one of several ticky-tack calls made on both teams -- but it was significant that Bryant put that on tape.

It didn't count in the score of the game. But it certainly put future opponents on notice that he has that ability.

I had wondered all season why opponents hadn't kicked the ball short and forced the Steelers to return the kick. They have been last in the league at it all season. But Bryant, who also had a 38-yard return against Green Bay, has changed that thinking. At least he should have.

WHAT'S BREWING

• Our Christmas gift subscriptions are now on sale!

• Chris Bradford's Midweek Reader dives deep into the Penguins' challenges, historic and otherwise, in winning three Stanley Cups in a row.

• Taylor Haase has made occasional appearances on Morning Java but never in a beat capacity as she does this morning with co-host Lance Lysowski. It's one thing for her to write about the Penguins' prospects, but it's quite another to hear her just rattle stuff off live. She's a walking, tweeting encyclopedia. See just below: