Frontier Justice

It's the morning after and I'm still not sure how to feel about what I saw last night. Amazement is still wrestling with Appalled.

 

I was reminded of that confrontation between Odell Beckham, Jr. and Josh Norman a few weeks ago while watching the wild card game between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati last night. Early in that Panthers-Giants game, Norman picked up OBJ and threw him to the ground in front of an official and there was no flag thrown for unnecessary roughness or  unsportsmanlike conduct, despite the fact that either seemed appropriate. Later in the game, Beckham, Jr. would take justice in his own hands and go helmet to helmet on Norman. Last night, Steelers LB Ryan Shazier speared Bengals RB Gio Bernard, launching himself, helmet to chin, knocking the ball and Bernard's brain loose. No flag was thrown. (Maybe that isn't a penalty but it should be. What exactly qualifies as "unnecessary" roughness, anyway?) To add insult to injury, Steelers head coach Mike "Trippin'" Tomlin challenged the down by contact ruling and won. Pittsburgh ball. Late in the 4th quarter, with the game on the line, Cincy enforcer Vontaze Burfict blew up defenseless receiver Antonio Brown with an unnecessary and game-changing shot that looked premeditatedly ugly. Burfict was rightly flagged on the play.

Can Burfict's (or Shazier's) hit be defended?

I can't.

Do I understand it?

Yes.

Frontier justice.

The Hatfields and the McCoys had nothing on the Steelers and the Bengals so I'm not sure the officials could've done anything to control this game but it seems to me they could've done more. A strongly worded memo from League HQ earlier in the week was supposed to bring everyone to their senses? All that memo did was provide coverage for Roger Goodell's highly compensated ass when the inevitable happened.

Listening to pigskin pundits and bobbleheads this morning, it's clear the NFL has a problem and his name is Marvin Lewis. I'm certainly for individual accountability and I do think Lewis deserves to be held responsible for the criminally violent and undisciplined way his team imploded, dropping his playoff record to a 0-7 and in case you haven't heard, yes, that's the worst in the history of the NFL. But acting like what we saw on the field – and sidelines – is surprising and unusual is disingenuous at best. This was a game that embarrassed the league and its fans but blaming Marvin Lewis, while convenient, ignores the obvious.

There is a banal, amoral indifference on the part of the NFL to the type of reprehensible violence – or as some might call it, "good TV" – that we saw Saturday night. Should Roger Goodell be embarrassed? Probably, but I've long given up on the notion that Goodell is actually capable of embarrassment. What he does understand is cash flow, revenue streams and "good TV." Look for the Bengals-Steelers games to show up in primetime next year. Everyone wants to see where this goes next and that it's for all the wrong reasons doesn't matter.

Yes, I'll be watching, too.