Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict is generally not regarded as one of the NFL’s most-beloved players. But he has a fan in Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey.
On Wednesday, Pouncey gave a nice shoutout to Burfict, who he’ll be opposing on Sunday in the showdown between the Bengals and Steelers.
Pouncey on LB Vontaze Burfict: “I actually like playing against Burfict, man. I think he’s a great player, he’s physical. He talks trash but he does it in the right way. Sometimes it’s a little excessive but when you’re a defensive player it’s supposed to be like that.”
— Mike Prisuta (@DVEMike) October 10, 2018
This is not a take that we hear a lot of with Burfict. Opponents are generally quite leery about him. Looking at some of Burfict’s past actions, it’s hard to blame them.
Pouncey’s take is also in sharp contrast to one of his teammates, JuJu Smith-Schuster. The wide receiver blasted Bufrict in the offseason after the linebacker tested positive for PEDs.
Sunday’s game figures to be very hard-hitting. We weren’t exactly expecting a lot of praise coming from each team during the week. But Pouncey went and surprised us. Burfict will have at least one fan on the opposing sideline for this game.