Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says he preaches "playing clean" and avoiding penalties, so the former Bengals defensive coordinator likely wouldn't have liked what he saw Monday night had he been watching.
The nationally televised game between the Steelers and Bengals turned ugly when yet another player, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, was carted off the field because of a head and/or neck injury. This one came from a malicious hit by Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was later suspended for one game by the NFL.
It was the NFL's eighth suspension this season for player safety violations.
"I didn't see the second half of that game, so I don't know exactly what happened or what was going on," Zimmer said. "We talk to them about playing clean. We try to play by the rules. We try to do things the right way."
The Vikings are, in fact, in the top half of least-penalized teams (13th) and are tied with the New England Patriots for the fewest unnecessary-roughness penalties (two) this season. However, one of the Vikings' flags resulted in a one-game suspension for safety Andrew Sendejo after he hit the head of Ravens receiver Mike Wallace.
Zimmer, who coached in the heated Bengals-Steelers rivalry, said he and Vikings coaches teach players about targeting certain areas and hitting "legally," while trying to keep emotions in check.
"We talk to them about how you have to put a target on the receiver where you want to hit them legally, and the same thing on running backs and quarterbacks," Zimmer said. "We don't want to be a high-penalized team."
Remmers, Morgan held out
Mike Remmers' durability was a big reason why the Vikings signed him away from the Panthers in free agency, but the right tackle could miss his fifth straight game Sunday, against his former team.
