Dec 8, 2017 3 min read

This is not breaking news: Football is a violent sport, especially at the highest level – the National Football League.

That was evident Monday night, when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals met for another of their biannual bloodlettings. Only nine plays into their game in the Queen City, Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier lay on the turf after executing what initially appeared to be a standard tackle. In reality, he had led with his helmet, a technique that even youth players are advised not to employ.

Shazier grasped his back on the way down, apparently aware he was seriously injured. He did not move his legs, a bad sign, and was strapped onto a board, transported off the field and taken to a local hospital. Fans at Paul Brown Stadium, and in front of the tube, were hushed, fearing Shazier may be paralyzed.

He has a spinal cord injury and was transferred to a Pittsburgh hospital Wednesday afternoon. The linebacker underwent surgery to stabilize his injured spine.

Shazier’s injury occurred early in a game that would feature 239 penalty yards, including a Bengals record 173; a second player being carted off, notorious Cincy linebacker Vontaze Burfict; crushing hits that would result in two single-game player suspensions (one withdrawn); a shameful unsportsmanlike penalty by Steelers rookie Juju Smith-Schuster; and the usual steady stream of trash talk.

The gravity of Shazier’s injury apparently did not dissuade the players from ramping up the physicality.

Policing this sport, of course, is one of the NFL’s primary responsibilities.

The league, to its credit, has instituted rules and guidelines designed to protect players, especially quarterbacks, in recent years.

But in the aftermath of Steelers-Bengals, and another game last weekend, one can’t help but equate the league’s ability to police itself with the practices of the Keystone Kops, the fictional and comically klutzy law enforcers from the silent movie era.

Discipline for violators, in particular, appears to be wildly inconsistent. Smith-Schuster was suspended for one game for his brutal block of Burfict, a hit that was high but appeared to be legal.

The rookie receiver then stood over the prone Bengal, taunting him, an act that – despite the disdain Steelers players and fans have for Burfict, arguably the NFL’s dirtiest player – lacked class.

JuJu was penalized for both actions, then barred for one game.

There is a suspicion that the taunting, a fineable offense only, may have had bearing on that decision, although the league said no. Yet Bengals safety George Iloka, who initially incurred an identical suspension for his blatant helmet-to-helmet collision with Antonio Brown on the tying touchdown pass, had his punishment overturned.

Steelers players, justifiably, are incensed over the league’s response to incidents from their game – and from a game played Sunday in Buffalo. New England was hammering the Bills, 23-3, late in the fourth quarter when Buffalo’s Tre’Davious White intercepted.

White was lying facedown on the sideline long after the play when Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots’ standout tight end, dived viciously into him. White was concussed and Gronkowski got a mere one-game suspension. He won’t play this weekend, but will return the week afterward against the Steelers.

These plays, and punishments, happened in the same week NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, that proud Washington & Jefferson College alumnus, was granted a five-year, $200 million contract extension. That’s a jarring juxtaposition, making one wonder whether a man whose house is in obvious disorder deserves to be so richly compensated.