The Carolina Panthers and the Cincinnati Bengals played to a 37-37 tie Sunday. It was the first time in NFL history that two teams had registered that score, but neither team was much in a mood to celebrate: Cincinnati, because its kicker muffed a chance to win the game, and Carolina, because it nearly lost two players to the (alleged) ankle-twisting ways of Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
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On two separate plays, Burfict sure appeared to grab hold of Carolina players' ankles and give a little extra love. Up top, you can see Cam Newton scoring through Burfict, and here's Greg Olsen doing the same:
Both Newton and Olsen have a history of ankle injuries, making the threat of re-injury that much greater, particularly if someone's actively trying to do so.
Here's a photo of that second touchdown, one that, granted, looks pretty bad:
“@CarolinaHuddle: Burfict = Red Handed #dirty pic.twitter.com/KttXcvzWlw” @nfl needs to lay down the hammer on this crap.
— Chris (@bestsportnascar) October 13, 2014 Sunday evening, Panthers kicker Graham Gano took to Twitter to express his displeasure:
Unbelievable that a player would intentionally try to hurt my teammates twice. I hope the NFL lays down the law hard. #Unacceptable
— Graham Gano (@GrahamGano) October 13, 2014 Seriously that makes me sick. There is no room in this league 4 something like that. We are grown men, have respect for the game and others.
— Graham Gano (@GrahamGano) October 13, 2014 More on this as it develops, obviously.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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