NFL suspends Raiders’ Burfict for rest of season for helmet hit
League penalizes linebacker for illegal hit in win Sunday
Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict, whose career is littered with fines and suspensions, has been suspended for the rest of the season for an illegal hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle Sunday.
The NFL handed down the season-long suspension to the Raiders’ defensive captain after examining his second-quarter hit during Oakland’s 31-24 win Sunday, for “repeated violations of unnecessary roughness rules,” the league wrote in announcing its decision. ESPN first reported Burfict’s impending suspension.
The Raiders, who are on their way to London to face the Bears this coming Sunday, did not have an immediate response to the league’s decision.
Burfict will appeal the penalty, his agent Lamont Smith told the NFL Network, which
notes hearings are usually set for Tuesdays. His case will be decided by either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash, the officers assigned by the NFL and NFL Players Association. However, his past troubles on the field won’t help his defense.
Burfict, who has been notorious for crossing the line with his aggressive play, has been fined or suspended 13 times during his eight-year career. In all, the league has levied more than $4 million worth of fines against the 29-year-old Burfict.
There was also video evidence that Burfict was throwing punches while trying to make a tackle late in a loss to the Vikings a week ago.
Burfict’s latest trouble-inducing hit came in the second quarter Sunday when his delivered a helmet-to-helmet blow to Doyle, who was on a knee on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf after grabbing a first-down catch.
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan made the decision to suspend Burfict for the season and explained why in a letter to him, part of which was made public.
“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,” Runyan wrote. “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.”
Burfict, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract with Oakland in free agency after spending seven years with Cincinnati, will be suspended without pay.
On Sunday, Raiders coach Jon Gruden didn’t question the unnecessary roughness penalty on Burfict, but he did take exception to the decision from the replay center in New York to eject his linebacker from the game.
“Nobody on the field, in our stadium or in this zip code made the call to eject him. That came from New York City,” Gruden said after the Raiders’ win. “I think it’s a tough decision. It was a tough call. I think it was a flag, it was very well-documented that the league was going to review those plays this year in New York City. That’s what happened.
“I’ll wait to hear what their reasoning was but it was a penalty,” Gruden said. “He went in there with his head down, it was called, and unfortunately for us, it was an ejection.”
Raiders linebacker Tahir Whitehead, who moved to inside linebacker Sunday to take over Burfict’s playcalling duties, reacted strongly Monday to the news of Burfict’s impending suspension with a profane tweet.
“No way that hit calls for that,” Whitehead tweeted. “This (stuff) is getting out of hand.”
Doyle, who didn’t miss any action after incurring Burfict’s illegal hit, told reporters he really didn’t even feel the hit.
“I just got tackled. I’m sure it looked worse than it was,” Doyle said. “I didn’t really feel anything from it. My helmet protected me.”