The Bengals lost to the Dolphins 19-7 on Sunday and they had to play out the final chunk of the game without wide receiver Tyler Boyd and safety Shawn Williams.
Boyd was ejected for fighting with Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard and Williams was ejected after a scrap that broke out in the wake of a penalty by Bengals wideout Mike Thomas while covering a punt.
Williams had been on the wrong side of an illegal blindside block by Dolphins wideout Mack Hollins on the same play and head coach Zac Taylor said he thought both players were put in bad situations. He then added that they still can’t do things that lead to disqualifications.
“I think our guys got put into some tough spots, you know? And those are two core guys that got kicked out of the game, Shawn Williams and Tyler Boyd,” Taylor said. “And again we don’t ever want that. We don’t ever want to ever . . . We need those guys; we’re counting on those guys. And everyone’s got to maintain their composure, myself included. We just have to look at what happened, but I know they were both very frustrated with what was going on. Shawn got hurt there on a blind-side block. And T.B. felt he got hit way late out of bounds. But again we’ve got to maintain our composure and be better than that.”
The penalty on Thomas was his second of the game on a punt and Taylor said Thomas was “just being a gunner, trying to go down there and make a play.” The Dolphins felt otherwise and those bad feelings led to quite a bit of ugliness in Miami on Sunday.
