NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had his one-game suspension for a blindside hit upheld by the NFL.

Smith-Schuster was flagged for unnecessary roughness and taunting after his blindside hit on Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh's 23-20 victory Monday night. 

Jon Runyan, the NFL's vice-president of football operations, ruled that Smith-Schuster "delivered a violent and unnecessary blindside shot to (Burfict's) head and neck area." Burfict left the game on a stretcher and did not return.

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