Oakland Raiders: Vontaze Burfict suspension debilitates defense
The Oakland Raiders will be without linebacker Vontaze Burfict for the rest of the 2019 season due to a suspension, debilitating an already shaky defense.
Shockingly enough, the Oakland Raiders would make the playoffs if the postseason began after Week 4. With a 2-2 record stemming from a season-opening win over the Broncos and win on Sunday against the Colts, the Raiders have enough tiebreakers to currently sit as the No. 6 seed in the AFC. However, the win against Indianapolis could also hold their downfall as it pertains to the defense and linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
In the second quarter of the Raiders victory, Burfict came flying recklessly to lay a hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle. The hit ended up being a helmet-to-helmet collision, which resulted in Burfict being ejected from the game. And on Monday, the NFL came down with an even heavier hand.
Burfict has been suspended for the remaining 12 games of the 2019 season for his hit on Doyle, as reported by ESPN. The linebacker, who has had a litany of fines and suspensions throughout his career to this point, was given no mercy by the league in this instance.
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Jon Runyan, the NFL vice president of football operations, sent a letter explaining why the decision was made, per ESPN:
"“There were no mitigating circumstances on this play,” the letter said. “Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game. Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk.”"
Burfict will reportedly appeal the suspension. If the linebacker does not win that appeal, the Raiders are in an absolutely awful spot moving forward.
Even with the veteran on the field, Oakland was already thin at linebacker, particularly with Marquel Lee also on IR. As of right now, Tahir Whitehead, undrafted rookie Justin Phillips and Nicholas Morrow are slated to be the starting linebackers for the Raiders. And there is little depth behind that group as well.
Considering that the Raiders defense is already 24th in the league in scoring, further weakening perhaps the weakest group on that unit is going to put this defense in shambles. It’s hard to imagine them stopping almost any opposing offense consistently with Burfict and now they’re supposed to do so without him.
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Make no mistake, Oakland is a better football team than many expected them to be this season. Having said that, their 2-2 start might be a bit of a mirage and one that will come into clearer view with Burfict out. They hold a playoff spot right now but the defense will ultimately prove to be the reason they fall out of that position relatively quickly.