I believe in the the entirety of the clip regarding Nelson, there is reason to believe Nelson is making unnecessary advance on Toussaint after the play is over. I don't think Munch is trying to pull his hair so much as restrain him from making a "heat of the moment" mistake in continuing a play out of bounds. It certainly LOOKS like Nelson takes an extra and completely unnecessary step towards Toussaint after both players' initial momentum has been stopped. Therefore I think Munch is reacting. In the act his hand DOES become entangled with spider hair. That's just going to be a side-effect from a guy who doesn't wash his hair for 6 years. It gets tangled and nasty like that - easy to get tangled up in.
I'm not trying to be mean, that's just logic.
I felt at the time that Shazier was being tasteless in his celebration after the hit on their running back. I believed it was going to incite the Bengals. Clearly it did. Shazier would have been better served as would the team had he simply gone to the sideline and gone about his business. Neither Greg Lloyd nor James Harrison would ever have put on such a display. That said, I can understand a young man celebrating a career day and a fumble recovery returned for a TD. I can also understand getting ahead on a hated rival, particularly one with a record of cheap-shots. But the truth is, we like to believe we hold ourselves to a higher standard and the celebration while a player is hurt is most assuredly NOT that standard. I cannot be truly supportive of that. I am quite proud of all the rest of Shazier's accomplishments in the game. He was absolutely our MVP.
Mr. Whitlock would do well to watch the clips of THAT segment carefully. There are MANY Bengals coaches on the field. One of them even puts his hands on a Steeler player. I expect Whitlock will be putting together a segment shrieking about the poor coaching of Lewis and how he cannot control his coaching as well.
Regarding the Jones incident, all contact was initiated by Bengals players. Porter was following Brown, Burfict put his hand on Brown, it was pushed away by a trainer who believed the gesture wholly inappropriate. That hand struck Porter. Porter reacted verbally to Burfict. Then Porter was struck again, in the back by the Bengals defensive tackle. At this point, you'll note Porter's hands are to his sides. He neither touches any player nor makes any purposeful physical contact whatsoever. The contact with the defensive player pushes Porter into a group of Bengals. Porter didn't seek them out, he was pushed into them. At that point he cannot disentangle himself WITHOUT initiating contact with one of them unless they move and make a way for him to leave. They do not do so. There is no audio, but it appears that Porter does not engage in a yelling match. He does not even appear to speak. He does "smirk". Undoubtedly this act of condescension causes frustration on the part of the Bengals, but he has done nothing physically or apparently verbally to escalate the encounter.
It would seem the smirk was enough, however to send Jones into a rage as HE initiates contact with a referee, pushing his way past in order to engage with Porter. That is what drew the penalty flag. At no point did Porter initiate anything whatsoever. And THAT is what is so enraging to the Bengals. They did it entirely to themselves.
And with that, I'm completely done with them. Logic is lost on beasts. They're un-trainable. Like dogs that cannot be housebroken.
