Bengals' Vontaze Burfict has suspension reduced to three games

Vontaze Burfict, Marvin Lewis and the Cincinnati Bengals were vindicated.

Sort of.

James Thrash, the NFL and NFL Players Association’s appeals officer for on-field discipline, ruled to reduce Burfict’s five-game suspension to three games on Wednesday, a league source confirmed to The Enquirer.

In a release from the NFL, it was stated that Thrash ruled the three games came down because of "repeated violations of player safety rules." Burfict is considered a "repeat offender" for such violations.

The Bengals had no comment on the reduction.

In the letter notifying Burfict of his suspension, NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote: 

"This is not your first offense with respect to illegal hits to defenseless players; to the contrary, this incident is consistent with your pattern of egregious safety-related violations including your hit on a defenseless player during the 2015 Wild Card game and your hit against a Baltimore tight end away from the play on January 3, 2016…When players violate the rules intended to protect player safety on a repeated basis, and particularly when the violations carry with them a significant risk of injury to an opposing player…you must be held accountable for this continuing unacceptable conduct." 

More:Doc on suspension of Bengals' Burfict: Make the law clear

More:Bengals' Vontaze Burfict waiting on appeal: 'It's not over yet.'

More:Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis on NFL's Vontaze Burfict ruling: 'ridiculous'

Burfict was disciplined for breaking two rules for a hit on Kansas City fullback Anthony Sherman on Aug. 19 – hitting a player in a defenseless posture and unnecessary roughness.

The defenseless posture rule specifically protects the head and neck area, and Burfict and the Bengals staunchly maintained that the linebacker hit Sherman in the chest – though Sherman’s head did snap back upon contact.

“I hit harder than most of the other linebackers,” Burfict said. “He kind of crunched up. I lowered my target, hit him straight in the chest. I talked to him the next series to see if he was alright and he said yeah, that’s a legal hit. You’ve got to keep your head on a swivel when you come across the middle and everybody knows that.”

After hearing Burfict’s appeal via conference call on Tuesday – a call that was fully supported by the team and its coaches – Thrash ruled that the five-game penalty was too severe.

One of the reasons the NFL gave for suspending Burfict for the first three games to start the 2016 season was because “Burfict’s action placed his opponent at unnecessary risk of injury and should have been avoided,” referencing his hit to the helmet of Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown in an AFC Wild Card game.

Before Thrash’s ruling came down, Burfict admitted his play is scrutinized at a different level than others at his position.

“It’s always like that. It’s always like that,” he said. “I see other linebackers do the same thing I do but obviously they don’t get called for it. It’s always like that. It’s been like that since I can remember.”

That said, when Burfict was asked flat-out if he was going to change the way he played, he didn’t blink.

“Nope.”

He won’t be able to play now until Oct. 1 – at Cleveland.

It is the third straight season in which the Bengals will be without the 2013 Pro Bowler to start the year. Burfict missed the first six games of the 2015 season due to his recovery from a knee injury, and he missed the first three games of last season due to a suspension.

“We understand where the NFL is going and how we’re trying to protect players,” said fellow linebacker Vinny Rey, who was surprised at the magnitude of the discipline and had expected it to be reduced.

“But I’ve been in this position before. We as a team have been in this position before. I’ll be out there. It may be done by committee off us as linebackers, but we’ll be out there and we know what to do. We’re going to line up against (Joe) Flacco (against Baltimore on Sept. 10) or whoever is at quarterback and fly around and to them from scoring.”

Get the latest Bengals news. Download our app on both theApple App Store andGoogle Play.