Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd said the hit that sparked a minor scuffle and led to his ejection in last weekend’s loss to the Miami Dolphins was “dirty.”
In the second quarter, Boyd was shoved in the back and knocked down a few yards out of bounds following an incomplete pass. Once Boyd got up, Miami cornerback Xavien Howard shoved him in the head and Boyd responded with a similar act to Miami cornerback Byron Jones.
Boyd and Howard were both ejected after the league office deemed both players to have thrown punches. Boyd disagreed with that but said the hit that caused the whole incident was not clean.
“You never know what could have happened,” Boyd said. “It was a dirty play.”
PHILADELPHIA — By choosing to start Jalen Hurts at quarterback Sunday against the New Orleans Saints over Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson is going against the blueprint laid out by his mentor, Andy Reid.
With Donovan McNabb caught in a funk in November 2008, Reid, then the coach of the Eagles, benched his franchise quarterback for the second half of a Week 12 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in favor of Kevin Kolb after McNabb went 8-of-18 for 59 yards with a pair of interceptions over the first two quarters.
| QBR | NFL Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 49 | 28th |
| 3rd down | 29 | 28th |
| Man coverage | 45 | 29th |
| Zone coverage | 37 | 30th |
| When blitzed | 37 | 32nd |
| Play-action | 31 | 32nd |
| Source: ESPN Stats & Info | ||
“You sit back an inch and maybe you go forward a mile,” Reid said in 2008 in explaining his decision.
That is exactly what happened.
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Longer-term, this still needs to be Wentz’s show because the Eagles are financially tied to him. McNabb shook off his benching and said his confidence wasn’t affected.
“No different than basketball or baseball. If you’re a little off, you keep shooting. That’s the way I feel about it,” McNabb said at the time.
It remains to be seen whether Wentz will respond with a similar mentality, or if his confidence will be further shaken by an extended absence from the starting lineup. There’s also his relationship with the organization to consider. While McNabb reacted well on the field, the benching stirred questions about his long-term standing with the team. He played only one more season in Philadelphia before being traded to Washington on Easter Sunday 2010.
There are longer-term risks involved in this Wentz-Hurts decision, but it was the right one in the interest of the 2020 Eagles and the men who take the field each week. It’s not the job of the coach to look too far beyond that.
