Column: NFL rough play shouldn’t be confused with Gronk’s cheap shot

This just in: NFL football is still a very rough sport.

As someone who’s stood near the sidelines during these games, trust me: It’s far rougher, far faster than what you feel and see via TV, no matter how many pixels.

It’s astounding that these men survive the high-speed collisions to the extent they do.

But, rule changes have made a difference. Shots to the head — and with the head — are less prevalent because flags, fines and suspension can result.

Yes, NFL football is a more humane sport than it was decades ago. And the proof, oddly enough, came during perhaps the most bruising game this season, Monday night’s bone-rattling bout between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, two longtime AFC rivals.

“AFC North football,” was the explainer from Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers quarterback.

High-speed collisions stunned or sidelined several players on each team. Two injured players were strapped to boards and carted away. Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier was hospitalized with a back injury after slamming into a receiver who’d caught a pass on a crossing route.

In a change from decades ago, when the Steelers and their rivals played some of the more violent games in NFL history, there were suspensions for two especially rough plays.

These are different times.

Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster leveled Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict with a nearly textbook block that Burfict didn’t see coming. By today’s standards, the blow was probably about six inches too high, underneath the facemask.

The one-game suspension to Smith-Schuster, the league explained Tuesday, was due to Burfict being “defenseless” when he got clobbered — a rule that didn’t exist decades ago. Also, the league deemed that Schuster-Smith had “taunted” Burfict by standing over him.

Likewise, the league deemed Steelers receiver Antonio Brown “defenseless” when Bengals safety George Iloka slammed him in the neck and head area in a failed attempt to knock the ball loose in the end zone.

San Diego context

The Steelers likely viewed the block on Burfict as payback. Between them is a much-chronicled history of bad blood that preceded the NFL arrival of Smith-Schuster, a rugged footballer who during his USC career would return to his Long Beach neighborhood to attend church on Sundays.

Late Monday night, while Schuster-Smith answered media questions about KO’ing Burfict, the Steelers’ Brown said “karma.”

San Diegans may recall that Burfict, a good player, had angered several San Diego Chargers players during a game in Mission Valley.

Why had 320-pound Chargers guard Tyronne Green flown into a rage at Burfict, drawing a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct?

After all, Burfict had extended his hand to Green in an apparent handshake.

“He stepped on my foot,” Green’s said.

The film didn’t lie: Burfict, 240 pounds, grinded his cleated foot onto the top of Green’s foot, while also shaking his hand.

All the officials saw was the handshake — and Green’s enraged response.

Legal battery?

In light of the suspensions Tuesday, it became even more obvious that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski got off light Monday with a one-game suspension for his cheap shot to Bills rookie Tre’Davious White.

There are people incarcerated in San Diego jails for battery whose actions may not have been more objectionable than Gronkowski’s.

This wasn’t a football play. This was a football player delivering a violent blow to a defenseless person.

White lay on the ground, face down, after he’d intercepted a pass meant for the All-Pro tight end.

Gronkowski became enraged and slammed into White, near his head, pile-driving into him.

This was thuggish behavior, from a 265-pound attacker who sent White, a former high school valedictorian and one of his team’s emerging playmakers, into the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Gronkowski apologized for his actions, but Bills players weren’t having it. “That was dirty,” said Bills safety Micah Hyde.

It wasn’t football.

Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic