The Washington Commanders lost their cool during a beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Lions in Week 10. And according to one NFL insider, things should have been a lot worse.
Nobody likes getting manhandled, especially in the trenches. Frustrations boiled over, with defensive tackle Daron Payne being ejected for throwing a punch at wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had instigated this reaction a few plays before without reprisal from the referees.
Payne shouldn't have taken the bait, but St. Brown knew he would. Just one play later, his interior partner Javon Kinlaw also drew a flag for pushing an official, which typically leads to getting tossed, too. That didn't happen, and Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk outlined the bizarre reason why.
Commanders got lucky with bizarre Javon Kinlaw non-ejection reasoning
The national insider, citing a source with close knowledge of the decision-making process, revealed that Kinlaw was not ejected from the game because the officials didn't want to remove a player from the equation on consecutive snaps. Florio also added that this sets a dangerous precedent for other similar situations in the future.
"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the officials did not want to eject a player on consecutive plays. Of course, that shouldn’t matter. If a player does something for which he should be ejected, he should be ejected. That fact that someone else was properly ejected one play earlier is irrelevant. It’s a bad precedent for officials, creating essentially open season on the play after a player is ejected. [Javon] Kinlaw also wasn’t suspended. If he was going to be, it would have happened by now."Mike Florio
Kinlaw will probably receive a hefty fine for his actions, but at least he'll be on the field in Week 11 against the Miami Dolphins. Payne is suspended following an appeal loss. Sure, he may have been goaded by St. Brown, but the former Alabama standout shouldn't have reacted the way he did. It's that simple.
This was a stroke of good fortune for Kinlaw. He'll now be tasked with leading Washington's interior defensive line in Payne's absence, and he must produce.
The big-money signing in free agency hasn't met expectations so far, which was the worry analysts and fans had when Adam Peters gave Kinlaw a three-year, $45 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. Now is the time to step up, and everyone associated with the Commanders will be watching closely.
And make no mistake, any more lapses in discipline are not going to be looked upon favorably by the league.