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The punishment for substance abuse is collectively bargained.
The definitions and punishments for "illegal" hits as the NFL applies it is insane.
The standard has become if you hit someone hard and/or they get injured it's illegal.
The job of a defender is to hit people hard, and getting hit hard results in injuries
I'm not defending burfict because he has made some unnecessary hits but the one we are talking about here was fine. He was doing his job. He chose to do it physically within the rules in a physical game.
If that FB were leading a sweep and the runner cut back inside but he still decleated burfict is that illegal?
I haven't seen the hit in question nor have I made any real effort to look into it. I admit my post was pretty much predicated on the hit actually being illegal, but my main/only point was the inconsistency in the way the league handles substance offenses vs. illegal hits.
I think you're right in that it pretty much just comes down to the fact that substance abuse offenses have strictly defined protocol, but the NFL just makes this **** up as they go (like with domestic abuse and ball air pressure). I'm still confused about why they seem to care more about keeping Josh Gordon out of the league than guys like Burfict.