I have no interest in whether Vontaze Burfict was Suspended for the wrong reasons or not. His hit could have been legal, and it could have been illegal. That is of no use to me in this conversation. I think we need to be honest with ourselves about what the NFL wants out of its players. They can pretend that they want everything to be much safer, but they have been pushing big hitting for years. Guys are taught to tackle with the full force of their bodies, and they are allowed to work out constantly. A man that is that strong, that fast, and hits that violently will hurt someone no matter what he does to soften the blow.
The game is violent
We can talk about the beauty of football all we want, but it is a violent game. These players are participating in contact that is no different from a car crash every Sunday, and they continually do so knowing that that is how they will earn their paycheck. These men are hoping to earn as much money as possible, and they know that they have to outperform the other people around them. It would be difficult for them to justify hitting less to their coaches because they would lose money, get cut, or be out of the NFL.
The suspension judges intent
Burfict's intent is being judged even if the NFL claims that it is not. They can tell us all day long that they do not judge intent in these cases because they do not allow certain hits.
The issue with Burfict is that he has been in trouble before. He has made it so that the NFL will look at him and think that he is doing something he should not be doing. He was suspended only because he is a troublemaker. He was branded that way when he came to the league, but he was playing the game the way everyone would have wanted him to.
The Bengals are better with him
The Bengals are a better team with Burfict on defense, and they will want him back as soon as possible. Missing five games only gives them 11 games to play, and they must pray that they win a couple games before he gets back. He makes their team better, and he is an example of how the NFL is inherently backwards in its thinking.
They will pay Burfict for the hard hits that he gives, but they will suspend him for the very same hit when they do not like the way that it looks. I imagine it is very hard to be in the NFL when you do not know what they will do to you.
Vontaze Burfict is one of the best defensive players in football, and we will miss out on him for part of the season because the NFL does not understand how to discipline.
