Jan 10, 2016 4 min read

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There continues to be fallout from the Steelers’ improbable 18-16 win at Cincinnati Saturday night.

According to the NFL Network, Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict could be facing a suspension for his hit on Steelers receiver Antonio Brown that left Brown with a concussion.

Those kind of hits are exactly the kind the NFL is attempting to eliminate. And don’t think for a second that the fact Brown suffered a concussion won’t factor into everything.

Then again, Burfict has a history of drawing fines for unneccessary roughness. He probably should have been suspended for his actions in the previous meeting between these two teams. After all, the league fined him for three actions in that game.

@ I fully expect Ben Roethlisberger to play next week in Denver.

In fact, even with a sprained shoulder, he still might be able to throw the ball with more velocity and distance than Peyton Manning.

Of course, Denver’s defense is better than Pittsburgh’s, so Roethlisberger must be better than Manning for the Steelers to have a shot to win.

I also feel like Antonio Brown should make it through concussion protocol OK. He has no history of concussions – the more you have, often times, the greater the severity – and wasn’t overly symptomatic after the game.

The Steelers also should get DeAngelo Williams back.

@ Look for Burfict also to be fined for dropping a knee on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on his sack of the Steelers’ quarterback on the final play of the third quarter.

@ There seems to be a good deal of confusion as to why Ryan Shazier wasn’t penalized for his hit on Giovanni Bernard.

Yes, there was helmet-to-helmet contact, but only after Bernard had turned after catching the ball. At that point, he becomes a runner. And helmet-to-helmet contact is permitted – at least for now.

Don’t believe me – and I was called a homer on Twitter by a number of Bengals fans, but more on them later – trust former NFL VP of officiating, Mike Periera.

Here’s what he Tweeted about the play:

“It is not a foul but it is a fumble. Should be the Steelers ball. Not a foul because the receiver was a runner.”

@ Not that the Steelers won’t see some fallout from this game as well.

I still think offensive line coach Mike Munchak’s fingers were caught in the hair of Reggie Nelson and he tried to yank them free, which caused Nelson to shove Munchak and Munchak to retaliate.

But even though officials gave Steelers coaches the OK to check on the status of Brown following the Burfict hit, Joey Porter wandered to midfield and exchanged some words with the Bengals.

That is no excuse for Pacman Jones, who apparently is the king of all morons, to go after Porter and shove an official along the way, but Porter probably shouldn’t have been there. He could be fined.

Of course, the Steelers will probably take up a kitty to pay that fine since it set up Chris Boswell’s game-winning kick.

@ It appears that Marvin Lewis’ job is safe at this time. That’s good. Lewis really is an honorable man and a good football coach.

What we don’t know is how many of the knuckleheads he has on the roster are his choice and how many are how many are because team owner Mike Brown wanted them.

But Lewis does need to reign in the players on his team.

As offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, one of many decent guys on the Bengals’ roster put it, “It’s falls on all of us. It’s not a one-moment thing. It’s an every-day thing.”

The Bengals have a very good roster. When Lewis first got to Cincinnati, they took some chances on players other teams wouldn’t touch because they needed to turn things around.

They’re a solid team now. They don’t need the knuckleheads.

@ Roethlisberger was hit with a full can of beer as he was being carted from the field. Bengals fans also were cheering as he was taken away.

And while Brown was down on the field, according to NFL analyst Tom Jackson, a Bengals fan reportedly said he hoped Brown died.

The entire city of Cincinnati should be feel shame not only over the actions of its players, but its fans as well.

@ All four road teams won this weekend, the first time in NFL history that has happened.

I don’t expect a repeat next weekend.