Xavien Howard, Tyler Boyd ejected over minor scuffle

Two key players were ejected from Sunday’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins, and many feel the ejections were not warranted.

Dolphins Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard and Bengals top wide receiver Tyler Boyd got into a shoving match late in the first half after Boyd appeared to be pushed to the ground late. It didn’t look like any actual punches were thrown, though there was some minor contact with the officials. Here’s a video of the skirmish:

If this is worth an ejection of both Tyler Boyd and Xavien Howard, football is in trouble #CINvsMIA pic.twitter.com/lKbLNl0NT0

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 6, 2020

You can see another angle below:

xavien howard has been ejected. pic.twitter.com/mPOovsqsku

— josh houtz (@houtz) December 6, 2020

That all looked fairly insignificant. Based on the angles we saw, it seemed like an unsportsmanlike conduct for each player would have been an appropriate outcome.

We’ve seen NFL players ejected for throwing wild swings like this, but the Howard-Boyd shoving match was pretty minor.