JuJu Smith-Schuster says hit on Vontaze Burfict made Pittsburgh love him

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How much do Steelers fans hate Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict? So much that Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster says an illegal hit he put on Burfict was the play Steelers fans loved most.

Smith-Schuster said in his visit to the PFT Live set on Radio Row that of all the plays he’s made as a Steeler, the one that really made Steelers fans embrace him was a helmet-to-helmet hit that gave Burfict a concussion and gave Smith-Schuster a one-game suspension.

“The biggest one of all was the Burfict hit. That one right there grabbed the whole Steeler nation. They wrapped me in their arms,” Smith-Schuster said.

Asked if that made the hit worth the money it cost him, Smith-Schuster answered, “Yes, it was.”

Those comments won’t endear Smith-Schuster to the league office, which wants players to stop celebrating hits to the head of their opponents. But Steelers fans will love it.

38 responses to “JuJu Smith-Schuster says hit on Vontaze Burfict made Pittsburgh love him

  1. Burfect is a dirty player and Shuster deserves a medal. Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun! LOL

  2. I get it why the league doesnt want Shuster saying that people love him for what even he admits was a dirty cheap shot, and they shouldn’t. But really its the league letting Burfict slide all these years that created the situations where fans would celebrate a dirty cheap shot. If the league had not allowed Burfict to have rung up such a history of his own AND left it unanswered then fans, even some Steelers fans, would have seen fit to call foul on it. But instead they allowed things to get to a point where instead of seeing it as a dirty cheap shot folks are instead just seeing it as payment in kind as owed. If the league doesnt want the public condoning players dishing out the punishment then they need to be willing to do it themselves.

  3. Pats himself on the back for giving someone a concussion. Thanks for admitting you’re a dirty player JuJU.

  4. Burfict should have been kicked out of the league long ago! But though part of me wasn’t sorry to see him get a taste of his own medicine, I don’t cheer any dirty hit. The NFLPA ought to do more to protect it’s members from dirty players if the NFL won’t do enough. Kick them out of the union for a start, and push the NFL to do more.

  5. As socially incorrect as that may sound, he is 100% correct. There is even a T-shirt depicting the pose you show above.

  6. Juju is my favorite steeler right now, but it looks like he’s starting to like this spotlight with all that I’m hearing from him lately. Chill out Juju

  7. It’s funny Pittsburgh fans hate Burfict so much when they cheered the dirtiest players in the game James Harrison and Hines Ward

  8. As much as I like protecting players safety, I feel like this was a justified hit. Vontaze has been over the edge and back a number of times, specifically against the Steelers (as we all know). I feel like JuJu is right, this did earn him the respect of Steeler Nation.

  9. Don’t worry, when some Bengal knocks Juju out at some point maybe Bengals fans won’t be so savage as to root and celebrate his suffering, even if Juju did violate the Golden rule.

  10. The bad juju of Burficts dirty plays caught up with him. It was a mostly clean hit with a little bit of contact to the head. As shady as Burfict has been trying to intentionally injure opponents for years he got what he deserved.

  11. SWFLPC.INC says:

    This guy is starting to talk a lot…..
    *************************************************************
    yes, i agree, he has had a great mentor in An-fonio Brown. Let’s see what the great JuJu does if Brown leaves and he gets to be the #1 receiver in Pitt, then we will see if JuJu flaps his gums.

  12. They hate Burfict because he’s a dirty player, but love JuJu because he’s a dirty player.

  13. Pittsburgh has had multiple rules written into rule book due to cheap shots on Bengals. I haven’t seen them change the book for Bengal dirty shots on Steelers (don’t even believe they’ve been fined for ones against Steelers (heck, Steelers even have coaches get fined for messing with Bengals’ players)

  14. As a Steeler fan, this is correct. We loved him before the hit, but the hit made him a Pittsburgh legend. Burfict helped ruin our season multiple years with much dirtier hits. But this hit, and then him standing over Burfict was perfect. I got that photo on canvas.

  15. JuJu appears to becoming a “Mister Me” kind of player, and just a rookie. Being proud of delivering an illegal hit ,regardless of who the player is, says a lot about a person’ s character( or lack of). TEAM mu

  16. Interesting perspective from JuJu. Perhaps that’s true for a lot of Steeler fans, but I didn’t like the hit. Hines was an unusual receiver, and it’s a different game today. I don’t want our receivers drawing flags and suspensions. Burfict deliberately sets out to injure other players and destroy their livelihoods. He doesn’t belong in the league, and the last thing I want to see is other players–ours or anyone else’s–emulating his behavior. Let karma have him.

  17. You have to remember Deb Says, Crackback blocking used to be legal for many years and receivers like Charley Taylor and Paul Warfield of the 60s and 70s used to LIGHT UP opposing defensive players…Thats why I like Hines Ward, he is a throwback to this type of play.

  18. @nflhistorybuff68 …

    Hines didn’t play in the 60s or 70s, but I still made clear that the rules were more relaxed when he did play. And I loved Hines. But as I said, what Hines did has NOTHING to do with JuJu, who drew a flag and suspension that hurt the team.

  19. Cheap shots are the Steelers’ way. I wonder what Burfict did when JuJu Smith Fumble let the entire season pop out of his hands. Probably LOLed all week long. Karma baby.

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