We’ve got a controversy! Over spit. A spitroversy.

In the third quarter of Pittsburgh’s 28-21 win over the Bengals on Sunday, Antonio Brown caught a pass over the middle. A trio of Bengals defenders closed in on him, and as he was already well wrapped up, Vontaze Burfict flew into the pile and walloped the back of Brown’s head with a flying elbow.

Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who is constantly getting suspended for being a dirty player, has been suspended once again. This time, however, he’s managed to earn a ban without trying to intentionally injure anyone.

The Steelers took a 17-10 lead on the Patriots on a Martavis Bryant touchdown catch before halftime, and the celebration afterward took things to another level.

A grimy football game can be fun, sometimes. Messy, brutal, even a little bit of dirty play can raise the stakes, or at least turn a game into a car wreck that can’t be looked away from. Steelers-Bengals was not fun.

Vontaze Burfict caught what was surprisingly his first-ever NFL ejection in the first half of today’s Bengals game against the Titans. He didn’t seem to mind:

Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and the Steelers renewed acquaintances Sunday, and it took all of 43 seconds of game time for Burfict to do something that may warrant another suspension. Even for Burfict, that’s pretty efficient.

The NFL’s decision to suspend Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict five games for his illegal hit on Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman resulted from a new rule that will also be a point of emphasis for officials this year. (Let’s go ahead and informally name the rule after Burfict, in the grand tradition of eponymous NFL…

Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, no stranger to unpaid time off, has received a five-game suspension for a dirty hit laid on Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman in a preseason game earlier this month. The suspension would be for violating a newly installed NFL rule offering “defenseless player” protection to receivers…

Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has many instances of dirty play listed on his résumé, but in today’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, he showed off his versatility with an ostentatious flop.

Yesterday was only Vontaze Burfict’s third game of the season—the Bengals LB missed the first three with a suspension for, functionally, all the dirty shit he’s done—and he’s already in fine form. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the NFL is reviewing a low hit he put on Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett in New…

Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict, whose late head shot on Antonio Brown helped lead to a game-winning field goal for the Steelers, has been suspended for the first three games of next season by the NFL. Here’s the NFL’s release (emphasis theirs):

I mean, you knew this. Even before Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict went headhunting on Antonio Brown, helping to cost Cincinnati the game, he was the guy who slapped another player in the balls, the guy who tried to twist two opponents’ ankles, the guy who in the regular season put Le’Veon Bell out for the year and dove at…

Vontaze Burfict’s head shot to Antonio Brown and a subsequent penalty on Adam “Pacman” Jones earned the Steelers and a hobbled Ben Roethlisberger enough yardage to set up a game-winning field goal—one that erased what had been a stunning fourth-quarter Bengals comeback.