Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson ended Ravens tight end Mark Andrews’ season on Thursday night with a hip-drop tackle, a legal but controversial maneuver in which a tackler lands with his body weight on the back of a ball carrier’s legs. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is backing Wilson against any criticism for the play.
After Taylor concluded his press conference announcing that Joe Burrow is out for the season, Taylor was about to leave before coming back to tell reporters he strongly disagrees with any criticism of Wilson.
“I do have one more thing I want to say, because one thing that’s frustrating was the narrative that’s been brought up about Logan Wilson,” Taylor said. “Logan is everything we want to be about, in the way he plays the game. He plays with a toughness and a physicality that is important to that position. It’s kind of been brought to my attention the narrative that’s out there right now, which I think is completely reckless. He plays the game the right way, and I think people have gotten ahead of themselves, labeling him a certain way, and it’s frustrating to see that because I know what he’s about and he plays the game the right way. It’s unfortunate when a player gets injured. But he’s a guy I’m very proud to coach, I’m proud to have as part of this team, but frustrating and a little bit maddening when you see the narrative that started running loose on him because that’s not the case at all.”
No one disputes that Wilson’s tackle on Andrews — as well as a tackle that seemed to hurt Lamar Jackson, though not badly enough for Jackson to leave the game — was legal under NFL rules. Some people do want to see the NFL change its rules, as many rugby leagues have, to ban hip-drop tackles. And Wilson’s hip-drop tackle on Andrews will be one of the exhibits in what is sure to be an offseason discussion about a rule change.