Doc: Just play ball, Vontaze

The NFL isn’t messing around with Vontaze Burfict. The league is dealing with him the way he deals with opposing players. No mercy, no quarter. There’s a rough and ironic justice there. And one gigantic message.

The Bengals linebacker needs to put a restrictor plate on his engine, and he needs to do it now. Often, when players appeal suspensions, their suspensions are reduced. Burfict’s appeal of his current three-gamer was head-slapped in no uncertain terms. It’ll cost him about $500,000 in salary, which is a lot, but nothing compared to what it could cost him if he doesn’t take the blunt hint to ease back his act.

Burfict picked a highly bad time to wing Antonio Brown in the head in the wild-card playoff game. The NFL is adept at knowing how the winds of public opinion blow. Right now, they’re gale force against head-hawkers, real or perceived. And that was before Ken Stabler’s brain showed the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, i.e. CTE.

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The league is picking on Burfict, but for good reason. The league is singling him out, making an example of him, for sure. It’s up to Burfict how he responds. Only one thing’s obvious: The NFL won’t be changing its tune to accommodate Vontaze Burfict.

Enablers who have rationalized his bad behavior by citing uneven officiating or, incredibly, favoritism toward other teams or players are doing Burfict no favors. He doesn’t need excuses. He needs truth. And the truth is, his game needs a good scrubbing.

Burfict’s punishment was as unusual as it was heavy. The league cited his “repeat offender’’ status as reason for its lack of leniency. Think of it as a Lifetime Dubious Achievement Award. Players aren’t often suspended for multiple violations, over time. But few have been penalized and fined the way Burfict has, for committing the same transgression over and over.

Antonio Brown: Burfict 'wanted to kill me,' never winked at Jones

He was fined four times in 2015 for what the league calls “safety-related violations,’’ even as he played in just 11 games. Burfict took a $70,000 haircut from one game alone, for three separate incidents in the second regular-season affair against Pittsburgh. He was also caught flattening Baltimore tight end Max Williams, away from the action and for no apparent reason.

The Carolina Panthers wanted Burfict suspended in 2014, for deliberately twisting the ankles of Cam Newton and Greg Olsen after the whistle.

All that said, the league is doing him a favor. It has let Burfict know beyond a reasonable doubt that he needs to change. The NFL is not his league. It doesn’t adapt to how he plays. As former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden once said of the NCAA, “rules is rules.’’

Burfict can’t fight Park Avenue. If he tries, he will lose everything.

It’s crossroads time for him. Burfict’s talent is enormous and obvious. It’s so large, there is no case to be made that asking him to obey the rules would somehow stifle him. Burfict is too good to need the illegal antics. Literally.

Change is not only possible, but likely, if Burfict is willing. In 2011, Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller was fined nearly $50,000, mostly for illegal hits on quarterbacks. Last week, Miller was voted the MVP of the Super Bowl.

Burfict has that sort of potential. Too often, it’s eclipsed by his bad judgment.

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He owes good behavior to Marvin Lewis, who stuck his neck out to give Burfict a career. He owes it to his teammates, most of whom love his fearlessness, but also see how his silliness hurts the team. Mostly, he owes it to himself. Burfict has been given a gift. It’s up to him to take full advantage.

After the NFL denied the appeal Burfict, his agent and Lewis met with Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, ostensibly to discuss ways Burfict might alter his approach. According to an ESPN.com report, Burfict asked for the meeting. That’s a good sign.

The rapper T.I. fashioned a lyric appropriate for the situation:

No mercy for me

Good morning reality

Will I wake? We'll never know

Play ball, Vontaze. You’re good enough, that’s all you need to do.