Yesterday during the Raiders’s game against the Colts, Indy’s tight end, Jack Doyle, caught a pass and was hit and landed with one knee, effectively ending the play.
Ending the play for everyone except Vontaze Burfict, that is, as the Raiders’ defensive captain decided to blast a clearly down Doyle with a vicious helmet to helmet hit, leading to a flag and his ejection.
As he left the field, Burfict sarcastically waved to the Indianapolis crowd while Doyle was taken in for observation. Today we learned the penalty for that hit would be more than just 15 yards and an ejection as the NFL announced that Burfict has been suspended for the remainder of the 2019 season without pay.
Raiders LB Vontaze Burfict suspended for remainder of 2019 season. pic.twitter.com/ktMpyIvTrI
— NFL (@NFL) September 30, 2019
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone as not only was the hit vicious and illegal, but it’s just another addition to a long list of dirty plays by the linebacker dating back to his days with the Bengals.
“There were no mitigating circumstances on this play,” wrote NFL VP of football operations Jon Runyan in a letter to Burfict. “Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game.
“Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed appeal officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk.
“Your extensive history of rules violations is factored into this decision regarding accountability measures.”
Official:#Raiders LB Vontaze Burfict is suspended for the remainder of the #NFL season without pay. pic.twitter.com/4eUQJNqwvj
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) September 30, 2019
This is Burfict’s fourth suspension of his career, and although he will be appealing the suspension, his reputation will definitely make it hard for him to have it overturned.
