Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who returned to active play from a suspension just over a month ago, will be fined $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct in the team's Oct. 22 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Burfict escaped a second suspension for the incident, in which he appeared to kick Steelers fullback Roosevelt Nix in the head.
Burfict has a history with the Steelers, including a sideline tackle on running back Le'Veon Bell that ripped up his knee and ended Bell’s 2015 season, and a helmet-to-helmet hit on Antonio Brown in the wild-card game a month later that resulted in a three-game suspension for Burfict to start the 2016 season.
Bell complained about Burfict’s kick in the locker room after Sunday’s game, according to KDKA in Pittsburgh.
“My fullback got kicked in the face. That’s just not football to me,” Bell said. “I don’t think that’s a respectable play, For me, I just like to play respectable football. Whether you play tough or whatever it is, within the play, it is all fine. After the play, unnecessary things, trying to hurt people, I don’t like that.
