CINCINNATI — That was “AFC North football” and that was a problem for most.

Ben Roethlisberger shrugged off a particularly violent Steelers 23-20 victory over the Bengals on Monday night that left some feeling queasy over the sport.

“This game is hard to watch for a number of reasons…terrible for the NFL and the game of football overall,” Cowboys great and Fox analyst Troy Aikman tweeted.

“The Steelers & Bengals do everything they can to be as combative as possible…it’s beyond football. This isn’t what competition is about,” Vikings Hall of Famer Cris Carter said on “First Things First” Tuesday morning.

Opposing linebackers were the victims of the two most brutal moments.

The Steelers’ Ryan Shazier stayed overnight in a hospital with a back injury while the rest of the Steelers headed home with yet another improbable comeback in hand, one that was so much like all the rest at Paul Brown Stadium.

Shazier, who is the leading tackler in one of the NFL’s top defenses, hurt his back while making a tackle in the first quarter and was taken off the field on a cart. He got tests at a local hospital that indicated no surgery was needed “at this time,” the team said in a statement.

Coach Mike Tomlin visited him after the game. The Steelers were hopeful that Shazier would return to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

“Right now, we’re just happy that he’s getting the necessary medical attention that he deserves,” Tomlin said.

It was the most frightening injury in a game full of vicious and illegal hits. Thousands of dollars in fines will be handed out by the league later in the week.

Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has been in the middle of much of the ugliness in the rivalry. His hit to Antonio Brown’s head set up the Steelers’ winning field goal in the 2015 playoff and drew a three-game suspension. He’s kept up the feud on Twitter with Bell, who grabbed his facemask and pushed him down in the first half Monday, drawing a penalty.

In the second half, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster leveled Burfict with a high hit and then stood over him, drawing a penalty. Burfict was taken off on a cart and was in concussion protocol.

“I didn’t mean to stand over him,” Smith-Schuster said. “I shouldn’t have done that. I hope he’s OK and I hope he gets better.”

In “Monday Night Football,” though, Smith-Schuster’s hit and reaction disgusted Sean McDonough (“shame on him”) and Jon Gruden (“sickening”).

“And Jon, what I can’t believe, on this of all nights, when he and his teammates and everybody else watching this game watched Ryan Shazier get seriously injured it seemed, that in the front of everybody’s mind, to deliver a hit like that, that’s illegal, and then stand over a man who you might’ve seriously injured … shame on him,” McDonough said, via The Comeback.



With AP