CINCINNATI (AP) — Two players carted off

Yodny Cajuste NFL Jersey , two others suspended, many fines to follow. One of the NFL’s nastiest rivalries set new lows in prime time, forcing fans to avert their eyes.What’s to be done about this long-running animosity between the Steelers (10-2) and Bengals (5-7)? Do the teams encourage the mayhem by downplaying it? Do the NFL and the networks promote it by showing it in prime time every season?Those questions were raised in the aftermath of a game so brutal that it made viewers cringe. Pittsburgh rallied for a 23-20 victory at Paul Brown Stadium on Monday night, its sixth straight win over the Bengals.What it’ll be remembered for, though, is how it felt more like a street brawl at times. The NFL responded by suspending Steelers receiver JuJu Schuster-Smith and Bengals safety George Iloka for one game each on Tuesday, and fines for other players are expected later in the week.“I’ll acknowledge there were some unfortunate things in that game that we don’t need in our game — by both sides,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday.It’s been going on for years, with grudges deepening.Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict — a focal point for much of the animosity — left the field on a cart with a concussion after Schuster-Smith leveled him with a blindside hit. The receiver then stood over the fallen linebacker to taunt him.As Schuster-Smith apologized for taunting after the game, receiver Antonio Brown yelled: “Karma! It’s called karma!”The NFL’s letter to Schuster-Smith informing him of the suspension said the egregious hit and the taunting “fell far below the high standards of sportsmanship expected of an NFL player.”Iloka hit Brown in the head after his touchdown catch tied the game in the fourth quarter. Brown wasn’t hurt, but the NFL suspended the Bengals safety for the type of flagrant hit that has “no place in our game.”Those moments have defined the rivalry since 2015, when Burfict made a twisting tackle on Le’Veon Bell that left the Steelers running back with a torn knee. Burfict celebrated — the Bengals say he was just happy to make a big play — but Bell and the Steelers took umbrage.Players went back-and-forth on social media Yodny Cajuste NFL Draft , and they got into a skirmish on the field during pregame warmups in the rematch in Cincinnati. They met again in the playoffs that season at Paul Brown Stadium, and Burfict’s hit to Brown’s head in the closing seconds moved the Steelers in range for a field goal and an 18-16 win.In response, the NFL suspended Burfict for three games. Burfict went at it with some of the Steelers on social media. The raw feelings grew deeper.This year’s unpleasantries began with Burfict refusing to shake Steelers’ hands at the coin toss on Oct. 22 at Heinz Field. During the game, Burfict kicked Steelers running back Roosevelt Nix in the chest and was fined $12,154 by the league.After the game, Bell tweeted video of Burfict’s kick and said: “man dude gotta go man … that’s not football AT ALL!!”The teams went their ways, but didn’t forget.After Bengals receiver A.J. Green was ejected from a game at Jacksonville for wrapping his arm around Jalen Ramsey’s neck, taking him down and punching him, Bell and Schuster-Smith had fun at Green’s expense in the Steelers’ next game at Indianapolis. They re-enacted Green’s takedown of Ramsey as part of their touchdown celebration.Back together in Cincinnati on Monday night, they wasted no time going at it again.On the game’s sixth play, Bell and Burfict went face-to-face during an interception return. Bell grabbed the linebacker’s facemask and shoved him to the ground, drawing a foul for unnecessary roughness Yodny Cajuste Buffalo Bills Jersey , part of a combined 20 penalties totaling 239 yards. Cincinnati was penalized 13 times for a club-record 173 yards.Some of the Bengals’ frustration comes from the Steelers’ ability to keep pulling out victories. The Steelers have won six straight, nine of 10 and 14 of 17 in the series.These two teams are through with each other for the season — on the field, anyway. What comes next?Bengals coach Marvin Lewis — who has steadfastly defended Burfict — is finishing his contract and could be done in Cincinnati after a 15-year run. He’s 0-7 in the playoffs — including two losses to Pittsburgh — and he’s 8-24 against the Steelers overall.Burfict will stay. He got a contract extension earlier this year while serving another three-game suspension for an egregious preseason hit. He also was ejected from a game in Tennessee for pushing an official’s arm away.The question is how to keep it from turning a rivalry into a rumble.“The rivalry is real,” Bengals linebacker Kevin Minter said after the game. “We come for them, and they come for us.” Yes, the Los Angeles Rams got away with a flagrant foul (or two) by cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman that allowed them to sneak out of New Orleans with the NFC championship, right past the highway sign on the causeway over Lake Pontchartrain reading, “WE WERE ROBBED .”Yes, the Patriots won in Kansas City thanks to four critical calls going New England’s way in the fourth quarter, three of which were iffy: a replay reversal of Julian Edelman’s muffed punt , a phantom roughing-the-passer call on Chris Jones and Chris Hogan’s drive-sustaining one-handed catch with a little help from the ground.The fourth flag was indisputable: Dee Ford lined up in the neutral zone, negating rookie cornerback Charvarius Ward’s game-clinching interception with 55 seconds left and Kansas City ahead 28-24.“I thought the game was over Color Rush Yodny Cajuste Jersey ,” Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen said. “And it wasn’t.”Just like the Saints did when Tommylee Lewis blatantly was interfered with inside the Los Angeles 5-yard line by Robey-Coleman, whose helmet-to-helmet hit didn’t draw the flag but will surely result in a hefty fine.“I thought it was a flag for that split second,” acknowledged Robey-Coleman, who was as surprised as everyone else when two officials near the play ruled it an incomplete pass on third down with 1:45 remaining in regulation and the game tied at 20.“I knew if that had been a flag, they probably would have scored on the next play,” Robey-Coleman said.The call kept the Rams close as New Orleans settled for a field goal on the next play, Greg Zuerlein tied it in regulation with a 48-yarder and won it in overtime with a 57-yarder , two field goals that likely never would have happened had Robey-Coleman been flagged for clobbering Lewis well before the ball arrived.On Monday, Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas implored NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to undo the outcome of the game , citing an NFL rule that allows for “the reversal of a game’s result or the rescheduling of a game, either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary occurred.”The league has never invoked the rule to reverse a game’s outcome.The George Halas and Lamar Hunt Trophies may be smudged amid the backlash over the officiating gaffes, but they aren’t entirely tarnished because strategy and execution had as much to do with the outcomes of these overtime thrillers as the yellow flags that were or weren’t thrown.The Rams (15-3) roared back from a pair of double-digit deficits to beat the Saints 26-23 in overtime because they stuck with the plan and didn’t panic after falling behind 13-0 in the first quarter and 20-10 in the third quarter.After managing just 5 yards in the first quarter when nothing went right Youth Yodny Cajuste Jersey , the Rams righted themselves thanks to a fake punt and cut New Orleans’ lead to 13-10 at halftime.“Our team demonstrated great mental toughness,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “It was a tough start, but I thought the way (quarterback Jared Goff) played and handled the noise was outstanding.”The Rams outscored the Saints 16-3 down the stretch.The Patriots (13-5) overcame a 24-point fourth-quarter outburst fueled by Patrick Mahomes to beat the Chiefs 37-31 in overtime because Tom Brady was hardly touched, aside from Jones’ shoulder swipe that the officials thought hit him in the facemask.New England’s much-maligned offensive line didn’t allow a single sack to the Chiefs, whose 52 sacks during the regular season were tied with the Steelers for the league lead and who pummeled Andrew Luck a week earlier, sacking him three times.Brady “played great,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said for what, the 1,000th time? “They were playing a lot of man coverage and it was either a good gain or an incompletion. … They gave us some three-man rush and there was a lot of four-man rush with Justin Houston, Chris Jones and Dee Ford. Those are tough matchups. I thought they did a good job of standing up to those guys and giving Tom a chance to deliver the ball.”In overtime, Brady, who has thrown 90 passes in the playoffs and has not been sacked a single time Womens Yodny Cajuste Jersey , converted a trio of third-and-10 pass plays on the winning touchdown drive.“Brady got rid of the ball fast,” Jones said. “We didn’t get to the quarterback like we usually do.”So the Patriots rushed for 176 yards and Brady threw for 348.By dominating the time of possession — 44 minutes to 21 minutes — Brady and the Patriots kept Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill on the sideline during most of the freezing night.“You play on the road, it is going to be tough,” Brady said. “What travels well is running the ball and playing tough. That is good in any weather, any condition, any environment and any stadium.”