It appears that we have some double standardizing going on here. Some of you are just fine with him smoking weed which is still illegal at the federal level and yet PEDs which are usually perfectly legal when prescribed by a physician. 
I'm not knocking weed nor any other medication prescribed, but you might also be aware that people process different substances differently and they can have some strange interactions with other medications .
Anyway, I'm not ready to declare Burfict the worse influence to the team and city quite yet . He's still a very good linebacker and would be extremely difficult to replace. Personally I don't really care what  substance they (or anyone else)  take as long as it isn't harming other people  ..

(03-16-2018, 04:10 PM)Pat5775 Wrote: Eh... I don't know about that. He's the most hated man in Pittsburgh, possibly the most hated ever. And Burfict hasn't exactly been sending the steelers Christmas cards. It might be a good place for him, as I'm sure they'd warn him ahead of time one false move (i.e. Suspension for any reason) and he's out on his ass. Likely for good.

Things change when you change colors......they'd love to have a guy like that, imo.

(03-16-2018, 04:12 PM)Wyche Wrote: Things change when you change colors......they'd love to have a guy like that, imo.

You're right.  Not only would they love Burfict if he went to Pittsburgh, the refs would suddenly love him too.

(03-16-2018, 04:12 PM)muskiesfan Wrote: Yes, but the League has to be made aware of it first and have the proper information provided to them from the doctor. So even if everything Burfict did was correct, he didn't fill out or file the proper paperwork with the League or it wouldn't be considered a failed test.

So it seems like it's not really a case of Burfict trying to cheat.  So he didn't get all his ducks in a row.  Maybe he's not the selfish scumbag idiot you portrayed him to be.

(03-16-2018, 04:14 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: You're right.  Not only would they love Burfict if he went to Pittsburgh, the refs would suddenly love him too.

.......and Goddell.  I can see the headlines now "Ex Dirty Bengal LB Changes His Ways Under Tutelage of Steelers Organization".

(03-16-2018, 04:04 PM)Sled21 Wrote: And are you going to tell me the league, with all it's bad exposure, is now going to forbid players out for the season, to take medicine for a concussion that the doctors give them??? Don't think so, he wins this appeal....

I appreciate all your points Sled - and agree with you...   except he will not win his appeal.

1. The league does not back down on their policy
2. They do not grant grace to frequent offenders
3. They particularly do not like Tez
   

He will be out for 4 games.  Maybe he'll get lucky and get 3.   Depends on when the Steeler's game is

(03-16-2018, 04:16 PM)Wyche Wrote: .......and Goddell.  I can see the headlines now "Ex Dirty Bengal LB Changes His Ways Under Tutelage of Steelers Organization".

And then they'd make him their linebackers coach when he has one too many concussions.

Which is what I hope we do.   

(03-16-2018, 03:54 PM)The Caped Crusader Wrote: False, by 'technicality' though. 

On the banned list is glucocorticosteroids. Anti-inflammatory agent used to treat pain, arthritis, asthma, allergic reaction, etc. I would ASSUME this would be what he popped positive for.

The official list for banned PEDs - https://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002037

That's not the NFL's list of PEDs. Even if glucocorticoid steroids are on the list, the NFL uses them and players can get therapeutic use exemptions like they do for adderall or albuterol.

(03-16-2018, 04:14 PM)McC Wrote: So it seems like it's not really a case of Burfict trying to cheat.  So he didn't get all his ducks in a row.  Maybe he's not the selfish scumbag idiot you portrayed him to be.

I never said he was trying to cheat. I said he broke the rules. He is selfish. He thinks only of himself. That is what selfish means. He is an idiot. With all of the suspensions and fines he's had over his career you would think he might attempt to change or do things differently. Neither has happened. He continues to do what he does because he's been that way since high school. At the high school level, college level, and professional level Burfict has exhibited a pattern of behavior. Yes, I believe that makes him an idiot for not attempting to change his ways. Regardless of money lost, it's stupid and selfish to continue to do the same things and draw penalties, suspensions, and miss time on the field where he could be helping his team. Every game he is not on the field does nothing positive for his team or teammates.

I've never called Burfict a scumbag. I think Pacman Jones is a scumbag because of the things he does off the field. Burfict's issues are on field, so I don't think he's a scumbag. I think he's a dumbass.

(03-16-2018, 04:01 PM)WychesWarrior Wrote: Who wants to bet if the Bengals cut him, the Stoolers sign him before the ink dries?

GUARANTEED

(03-16-2018, 04:04 PM)Sled21 Wrote: And are you going to tell me the league, with all it's bad exposure, is now going to forbid players out for the season, to take medicine for a concussion that the doctors give them??? Don't think so, he wins this appeal....

Off the top of my head, nothing comes to mind which is both a PED and used for concussions.

And players take PEDs when they are injured to heal faster and during the off season because there is less chance of getting selected for a random drug test. Whoever is feeding him that answer needs to STFU because that excuse is about as transparent as they come.

(03-16-2018, 04:35 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Off the top of my head, nothing comes to mind which is both a PED and used for concussions.

And players take PEDs when they are injured to heal faster and during the off season because there is less chance of getting selected for a random drug test. Whoever is feeding him that answer needs to STFU because that excuse is about as transparent as they come.

Yea the "no performance to enhance argument" is horrible. James Harrison got tested 5 times in the off season last year I think it was.

One thing I wonder is, did everybody get tested on December 27?

(03-16-2018, 04:42 PM)McC Wrote: One thing I wonder is, did everybody get tested on December 27?

That's not how that works. The random testing procedures usually only scoop up a handful of players on each pass unless you are in the substance abuse program. 

Edit: Just found it, 10 players per team per week.

(03-16-2018, 04:38 PM)Au165 Wrote: Yea the "no performance to enhance argument" is horrible. James Harrison got tested 5 times in the off season last year I think it was.

Didn't Harrison also have a history of PED issues?  That probably had nothing to do with it, right?

Annnnd here's where my skepticism about the otherwise good Preston Brown signing comes to fruition. It ended up not improving the LB group at all. One step forward, a bunch of steps back.

(03-16-2018, 04:43 PM)McC Wrote: Didn't Harrison also have a history of PED issues?  That probably had nothing to do with it, right?

No he has never failed a drug test.

To further clarify, I'm not saying the League isn't suspicious on times that players are "randomly" selected. Bell was "randomly" selected either on or the day after 4/20. Pat McAfee who had a run in with the law in Indianapolis after getting drunk and swimming in the canal was "randomly" selected the day after St. Patrick's Day.

I rarely post on here, though I'm particularly passionate about this situation:

Vontaze Burfict is exactly the kind of player I've felt this team has needed for decades. I truly enjoy watching his elite football IQ in action, and the intensity he brings to the team. In my mind there's no way you trade him or cut him until he proves to be genuinely malicious to the team or others, or his play diminishes enough to be beaten out for a roster spot.

I know it's chic to hype the cliche about availability being the best ability. Except for missing time with the injuries that are inevitable from his high impact style of play, most of his suspensions are incredibly dubious. It really shouldn't be up for debate that the league has a clear bias for the Steelers, and the fact that he was suspended for so many games to start a new season for the hit on Brown from a previous year's wild card game was absurd. (Regardless if he bag tagged or twisted ankles earlier in his career.)

The absurdity escalated in orders of magnitude with the suspension after a shoulder block in the preseason to a guy running a route across his face well within 5 yrds of the line of scrimmage (subjective defenseless player rules be damned.) An ejection for a casual brush of a hand to a referee looking for an excuse to further this narrative of Vontaze as the league's ultimate villain caps of this shameless slant against the Bengals.

In my mind, there's no doubt whatsoever that the league is looking to derail the once-in-multiple-generations talent we have on our team in Burfict; he and the Bengals are the biggest threat to a cruisy Steeler season (not Baltimore, and certainly not Cleveland, whom the Steelers have been gifted to finish the season against each and every year (bar one) since the league instituted division games to finish a season - the AFCN being the ONLY division with that kind of static scheduling across the league, and it's not even close in comparing how little our schedule rotates to other divisions, begging to ask the question, "who benefits from such an under-the-radar arrangement?"...automatic 2nd bye week for the Goodell's HR Managers, the Rooney family.)  

And now with this latest episode of one-for-the-thumb on the scale, the reality could be that a totally premeditated and illegal hit on Vontaze by Boo-Hoo Scheister-Smith could potentially sideline him for a quarter of another season, and that's a reality that is sickening. Add more nausea in that the Steelers, League, sports media, and most fans erroneously believe that Vontaze maliciously ended Bell's season twice, and they all gleefully contend he deserves what's coming to him. Putrid.

Unfortunately, an alarming number of our fans don't seem to recognize that if the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, you best believe that Burfict's play at LB will be monumental in any such scenario where that could, in theory, you know, maybe happen. You don't get rid of a guy of that caliber for what could very well be another BS and/or bogus suspension brought on by a BS punk illegal hit by a squad that has clearly sought to influence the league in previous suspensions of the same guy for hits that weren't even close to the level of the dirty shot Vontaze took in the Steelers game last year.

His contract is manageable, and even if the league decides to once again railroad us and help the Shittsburgh gravy train get rolling early for one more ride for the Stealer B's, there's no draft pick or replacement linebacker out there that could provide even a fraction of what Vontaze does when he's in there - fat or otherwise, suspended or not. You just take what you get, when you can get it or the league allows, and you calculate that his game changing plays and mind will indeed show up at some point, and just provide enough magic to get us the ultimate prize one of these fine days. At the bare minimum, he's one helluva a 7th Lb'er. I'm taking that all day long, even if it's just twice on Sundays.

(03-16-2018, 04:50 PM)The Gooney Rule Wrote: I rarely post on here, though I'm particularly passionate about this situation:

Vontaze Burfict is exactly the kind of player I've felt this team has needed for decades. I truly enjoy watching his elite football IQ in action, and the intensity he brings to the team. In my mind there's no way you trade him or cut him until he proves to be genuinely malicious to the team or others, or his play diminishes enough to be beaten out for a roster spot.

I know it's chic to hype the cliche about availability being the best ability. Except for missing time with the injuries that are inevitable from his high impact style of play, most of his suspensions are incredibly dubious. It really shouldn't be up for debate that the league has a clear bias for the Steelers, and the fact that he was suspended for so many games to start a new season for the hit on Brown from a previous year's wild card game was absurd. (Regardless if he bag tagged or twisted ankles earlier in his career.)

The absurdity escalated in orders of magnitude with the suspension after a shoulder block in the preseason to a guy running a route across his face well within 5 yrds of the line of scrimmage (subjective defenseless player rules be damned.) An ejection for a casual brush of a hand to a referee looking for an excuse to further this narrative of Vontaze as the league's ultimate villain caps of this shameless slant against the Bengals.

In my mind, there's no doubt whatsoever that the league is looking to derail the once-in-multiple-generations talent we have on our team in Burfict; he and the Bengals are the biggest threat to a cruisy Steeler season (not Baltimore, and certainly not Cleveland, whom the Steelers have been gifted to finish the season against each and every year (bar one) since the league instituted division games to finish a season - the AFCN being the ONLY division with that kind of static scheduling across the league, and it's not even close in comparing how little our schedule rotates to other divisions, begging to ask the question, "who benefits from such an under-the-radar arrangement?"...automatic 2nd bye week for the Goodell's HR Managers, the Rooney family.)  

And now with this latest episode of one-for-the-thumb on the scale, the reality could be that a totally premeditated and illegal hit on Vontaze by Boo-Hoo Scheister-Smith could potentially sideline him for a quarter of another season, and that's a reality that is sickening. Add more nausea in that the Steelers, League, sports media, and most fans erroneously believe that Vontaze maliciously ended Bell's season twice, and they all gleefully contend he deserves what's coming to him. Putrid.

Unfortunately, an alarming number of our fans don't seem to recognize that if the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, you best believe that Burfict's play at LB will be monumental in any such scenario where that could, in theory, you know, maybe happen. You don't get rid of a guy of that caliber for what could very well be another BS and/or bogus suspension brought on by a BS punk illegal hit by a squad that has clearly sought to influence the league in previous suspensions of the same guy for hits that weren't even close to the level of the dirty shot Vontaze took in the Steelers game last year.

His contract is manageable, and even if the league decides to once again railroad us and help the Shittsburgh gravy train get rolling early for one more ride for the Stealer B's, there's no draft pick or replacement linebacker out there that could provide even a fraction of what Vontaze does when he's in there - fat or otherwise, suspended or not. You just take what you get, when you can get it or the league allows, and you calculate that his game changing plays and mind will indeed show up at some point, and just provide enough magic to get us the ultimate prize one of these fine days. At the bare minimum, he's one helluva a 7th Lb'er. I'm taking that all day long, even if it's just twice on Sundays.

Beautifully and reasonably said.  Welcome aboard.  Please stick around.  You know how we hate one and done.

Also, you can tell how much the Steelers respect your game by the lengths they will go to remove you.