You know, if this allegation were being made of almost anyone else, I might find reason to question its legitimacy. Intimidation can be a big part of succeeding in a game as physical as professional football, so not only is an empty and unfulfilled threat typically not that a big of a deal, but Ben Roethlisberger serving as its source also makes it relatively unreliable. That being said, this is Vontaze Burfict we are talking about, so it takes a lot less than the visual evidence of a pre-snap point at one particular person across the entirety of the formation that followed an objectively dirty hit to the head of a defenseless receiver, both with which he has a past, to remove whatever battered and beaten benefit of the doubt might exist in regard to his intentions. The truth is, Vontaze Burfict makes a parody of the NFL's supposed sincerity in maintaining player safety every time he steps on a football field. The league can act like each suspension he's been handed serves as a lesson, but it doesn't matter all that much if the "student" spent the entirety of it doodling his next violent act of vengeance. It's been made pretty damn clear, time and time again, that Vontaze Burfict continues to view himself as the type of weapon whose mass destruction stopped being celebrated years ago. Other than a lifetime ban, which admittedly seems excessive (although only slightly at this point), I don't know what the answer is. I do, however, know what the answer is not, and that is coming to the conclusion that Vontaze Burfict simply makes too many suspension-worthy plays to suspend him for every single one of them...
It was already foolish to assume there was an end in sight for the potentially paralyzing antics of the NFL's resident evil, but letting him slide on targeted shots to the head of those with which he damn near maintains a blood feud certainly isn't doing anything to rein him in. I'm of the belief that he's not challenging the NFL as much as he's acting on assassin-like instincts, but that's a difference in perspective, not a difference in threat-level of a clear and present danger to player safety.
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