The Miami Dolphins found themselves down 7-6 at halftime against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in a game the team desperately needs in the AFC Playoff race . Unfortunately, star cornerback Xavien Howard exited early.
Howard got into a brief scrap with Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd on the sidelines in the second quarter. There didn’t seem to be too much to it.
Both players were ultimately ejected from the game for “throwing punches.” That’s about as laughable as it gets. Specifically, Boyd was hit late on the sideline and reacted in kind. Those watching the game agreed that neither player should have been ejected.
Soft is the word that comes to mind here before anything else. If players are ejected from actual NFL games for what we saw during the Bengals-Dolphins outing, we’re going to see a lot more of this moving forward.
As for the Bengals-Dolphins game, the ejections could have wide-ranging ramifications. We’re talking about Cincinnati’s top pass-catcher attempting to help backup Brandon Allen, who has been forced to replace the injured Joe Burrow under center. Howard is the Dolphins’ top cover guy.
Miami sits at 7-4 on the season and is battling for a playoff spot. Let’s hope the quick hook Howard got ahead of halftime doesn’t impact this team moving forward.
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