Sportsmanship is an oft-ignored attribute in the common NFL landscape, particularly among divisional rivals.

Usually, it’s pretty benign: a shove after the whistle, some trash-talking, refusing to offer a hand to a fallen opponent. Basic, high school-caliber stuff.

The Cincinnati Bengals could see injured LB Vontaze Burfict to the lineup this Sunday against the Steelers.

Don’t count on any moments of sportsmanship from Burfict.

For some context, take a look at the tackling philosophy Burfict employed against the Carolina Panthers last season:

As you can see, Burfict assisted in a tackle against Panthers QB Cam Newton. After the play concluded, Burfict took the liberty of maliciously twisting the $100 million player’s ankle.

Of course, this could have been a simple isolated incident in which the young linebacker was caught in the heat of the moment.

That is, until he did the exact same thing later in the same game:

This time, it was TE Greg Olsen who was the victim. Once again, the play was over, and this time you can actually see the beginnings of Burfict pulling on Olsen’s ankle.

This was last season. Burfict’s reputation as a “dirty” player managed to proceed these events by a season. Look closely at this incident from 2013:

Burfict is No. 55. Look to the left of the screen as he smacks Robert Taylor (No. 82) directly in the groin. Earlier in this same game, he was flagged for hitting a defenseless receiver.

These infractions did not go unpunished. Burfict was hit with over $50,000 in fines for these two incidents.

In any event, perhaps these examples can provide some clarity as to exactly the type of player Vontaze Burfict is. He’s a phenomenal talent. This is undeniable. But these gutless, malicious happenings are clear intentions to cause harm, and there’s no room for that.

At least his teammates take the high road and don’t engage in that sort of…oh wait:

That’s Adam Jones slamming rookie WR Amari Cooper’s unprotected head into his helmet. Classy.

In the interest of fairness, here’s a clip of what appears to show Steelers safety Mike Mitchell putting Chiefs running back Charcandrick West in an ankle lock after a tackle (nod to @Steel_By_Design for pointing it out).

The Cincinnati Bengals are a tremendously talented team and the vast majority of their roster is adhering to the rules, playing phenomenal football and doing things “the right way”, but situations like those caused by Burfict and Jones won’t do much to diminish their reputation as a “dirty team”; especially since it was a Bengal who was responsible for the hit that ended Le’Veon Bell’s season last year.