Vontaze Burfict Stretchered Off After Helmet-to-Helmet Hit From JuJu Smith-Schuster

JuJu Smith-Schuster leveled Vontaze Burfict with a dirty hit.

For the second time in Monday night’s Steelers-Bengals game, a player was carted off the field on a stretcher. 

Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict was immobilized and taken off the field following a vicious helmet-to-helmet block from Pittsburgh receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who then stood over the injured Burfict. The Bengals announced almost immediately that Burfict was out for the game with a head injury. 

Smith-Schuster was penalized for the hit but not ejected. 

JuJu just laid Burfict tf out pic.twitter.com/nkL8mKiPyq

— Ian Valentino (@NFLDraftStudy) December 5, 2017

ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported that Burfict “jumped up” off the stretcher once he was taken through the tunnel and was able to walk to the locker room. 

The play came just hours after Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier was taken by ambulance to a trauma center with a back injury. Shazier did not move his legs after getting injured while making a stop in the first quarter. Bengals running back Joe Mixon also left the game with a concussion after a helmet-to-helmet hit. He appeared to have been knocked unconcsious.