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Cincinnati Bengals' Andrew Whitworth: NFL at fault for fight-marred game

By The Sports Xchange
Cincinnati Bengals' Andrew Whitworth (77). Photo by John Sommers II/UPI
Cincinnati Bengals' Andrew Whitworth (77). Photo by John Sommers II/UPI | License Photo

CINCINNATI -- Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth took the NFL to task following Cincinnati's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, a contest that was marred by a pregame scrum and numerous altercations.

Bad blood lingered from the teams' first meeting in November when a hit by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict on running back Le'Veon Bell drew the Steelers' ire.

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"I'll get in trouble for this, but that's the NFL's fault," Whitworth said. "I love the Pittsburgh Steelers, I love (Steelers coach) Mike Tomlin. But they had a player who made a death threat to one of ours after the last game about spilling his blood in the streets.

"Everyone saw it, and the NFL did nothing about it. They allowed there to be that kind of animosity. Football's football, but when you start talking about what you're going to do to another player off the field and in the streets, that's Roger Goodell and the NFL's fault. When you're in charge of the league, it's your job to do something about that."

Whitworth was referring to a tweet by Steelers linebacker Vince Williams following the Week 8 contest that read, "I catch Vontaze on south beach im painting that boi on sight."

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Williams later deleted the tweet and issued the following statement:

"First of all, anyone who knows me knows I'm not a thug. I'm also not going to apologize for my words either. I was infuriated by the fact that one of my closest teammates was taken out by a notoriously dirty player.

"I got conformation that he was gloating about causing a season-ending injury. I'm confused as to how anyone could be happy about that, especially since they had just gone through the same thing. I was sitting there, the pop (from Bell's knee) was loud, do you know what it's like to see someone you consider a brother to be in pain and to have something they cherish ripped away from them? Then to watch the player that did it smiling about it. I'm sure that would make anyone want to punch someone in the face.

"I shouldn't have taken these feelings to Twitter but I did. If caring about my teammates makes me a villain then I'll be public enemy #1 any day and everyday."

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