Whether we like it or not, that hit has been getting flagged for three or four years now. Pro DB’s have to know that. They call it “defenseless receiver”. Doesn’t matter what he lead with.
As I said, it can be called and does sometimes. He was going in to make a play with the season on the line. Not smart, but probably not one of the worst three hits in that game. The selective outrage is just annoying as hell.
The bengals channeled their anger perfectly from the time of thirty hit where their running back was knocked out from a helmet to helmet hit and subsequent fumble to come back and have the game won. Then, they unbelievably fumbled on 1st down and just over a minute left. From there, 55 ended up making a dumb play with it all on the line after they had already done everything they needed to win.