The Cincinnati Bengals have been one of the toughest outs in football over the past two seasons. They came within a minute of being crowned Super Bowl champions in 2021 and took the Kansas City Chiefs to the final seconds in the AFC Championship Game last year.
And perhaps they would have gotten even further during the 2022 season were it not for an injury in that game suffered by one of their top receivers. At least that’s what the receiver in question, Tyler Boyd, chooses to occupy himself with heading into next season.
“We would’ve won the game”, he told reporters during OTAs yesterday, had he not gotten hurt, according to Ben Baby of ESPN. The Bengals’ slot receiver only played 15 snaps before his injury, making two catches for 40 yards. He had a good matchup against Kansas City. “Still to this day, I feel like if I would have played the whole game, I was the key factor”.
Boyd caught 58 passes during the regular season for 762 yards and five touchdowns. Outside of the scoring, it was some of his lowest production numbers since his rookie season, except for the 2017 season, during which he missed extended time.
A former second-round draft pick, he has understandably taken a bit more of a back seat since the Bengals drafted Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase over the course of the past three years. He was coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons just before they drafted Higgins, and his target share began to decline immediately after, but he remains one of the top slot receivers in the NFL.
His absence was felt in the game, certainly, and Boyd did note that he did everything in his power to get back on the field, to no avail. He did express concern that if he tried to play hurt it would only to be the detriment of the offense, trusting in the depth at wide receiver the Bengals had.
The absence of Boyd made it easier for the Chiefs to double team both Higgins and Chase, neither of whom had exceptionally remarkable games under the circumstances. Both caught six passes, averaging about 80 yards between them. Higgins scored one touchdown, which at the time tied the game in the third quarter.
The Bengals never held a lead at any point in the game, but they did manage to draw to a tie twice in the second half. It was only a Harrison Butker 45-yard field goal with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference.
But even look at the fourth quarter makes you wonder if things had been difference. Cincinnati couldn’t move the ball on its final two possessions, targeting players like Trenton Irwin and Mitchell Wilcox. Joe Burrow took a sack on third down, had an intentional grounding penalty, and was forced to scramble multiple times.
We’ll never know for sure whether Boyd’s presence would have changed the game, but injuries are always a part of the equation, and the Chiefs had their own to contend with as well. I know if I were in Boyd’s shoes, I would want to believe I could have made the difference, so I can hardly blame him for his position.
