Much has now been said about the Dayton practice field where the Cincinnati Bengals started 2019 training camp — where A.J. Green went down with an injury.
Green — reportedly out six to eight weeks with torn ligaments, meaning he’s doubtful for Week 1 — got tangled up with Dre Kirkpatrick and went down. After the fact, a report suggested Bengals staffers weren’t happy with the field.
Now Tyler Boyd has added gasoline to the fire with some comments, according to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.: “Turf was terrible. I couldn’t run any routes. I was falling all over. It was bad. There was rock, pebbles out there. It was somewhere we shouldn’t have been.”
Jay Morrison from The Athletic added more:
Granted, Bengals coach Zac Taylor has been adamant the turf had nothing to do with Green’s injury.
Both of these things can probably be true, of course. Wideouts like Boyd could have been struggling with it and it still didn’t play a part in the injury. Two players simply got tangled up on an underthrown pass — with or without the help of the turf. These things happen.
Either way, it isn’t a good look that one of the NFL’s best outright players at his position went down with this sort of injury on the first day of training camp practice. The Bengals were away from their usual turf at the request of the NFL as to celebrate its 100th season.
That bad look has players and fans talking and doesn’t cast a good light on the situation.
