Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Rips NFL, Questions League’s Direction

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Steelers safety Mike Mitchell is not happy about how football is being officiated in the NFL these days.

The Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals engaged in a nasty game Monday night with many viscous hits.

Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Bengals safety George Iloka were both fined and suspended for hits in the game.

But Mitchell believes that is just football. Among the things he said: “I feel like I got to ask a guy, ‘Hey, are you ready for me to hit you right now before I hit you?’

Mitchell was docked $48,620 for a helmet-to-helmet shot to Chiefs running back Charcandrick West that resulted in a concussion. He also was fined $9,115 for hitting quarterback Alex Smith low near the end of the third quarter.

“There’s just so much going on in the game right now. Obviously I’m a little flustered, but we’ve just got to do better,” Mitchell said.

“We’ve got to do better as players when we sign the next CBA. We gotta get better leadership as who’s running the league, because obviously everybody, from fans, owners, players are all disappointed in Roger Goodell. We just gotta do better.”

Mitchell, a second-round pick out of Ohio, was drafted in 2009. He’s playing the fourth year of a five-year, $25 million contract with Pittsburgh.