Getty The Oakland Raiders surprisingly declared Benson Mayowa an inactive prior to Sunday's game.
Benson Mayowa has spoken after being declared a surprise inactive in Week 4.
Not long after the Oakland Raiders defensive end was named one of the seven inactives for the team’s game against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4, the 23-year-old took to Twitter to express his feelings — and he posted a cryptic message to go along with it.
Raiders Don’t Explain Mayowa’s Absence
The 2018 third-round draft selection had led the Raiders in sacks with 3.5 through three games. In fact, he was just one of three Raiders to actually record a sack prior to Week 4.
However, despite being healthy and being a full participant in practice throughout the week, Oakland named Mayowa an inactive — a first for the second-year player after he appeared in 16 games and started 10 of them during his rookie campaign last season.
It’s unclear why the Raiders benched Mayowa for such a pivotal game. His absence wasn’t explained by Oakland following their 31-24 win.
With all of that said, there’s obviously more to this than is being reported. We obviously don’t want to speculate what exactly has transpired between Mayowa and the Raiders, but you obviously don’t bench your top pass rusher while healthy unless there’s something going on.
It should be interesting to see if head coach Jon Gruden addresses this topic on Monday. We’ll keep you updated here at Heavy as soon as more information becomes available.
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Vontaze Burfict Suspended for Hit
While the Raiders pulled off a huge upset win over the Colts on the road, it didn’t come without some controversy. That would be because defensive captain Vontaze Burfict was caught delivering another dirty hit that promptly led to his ejection.
Burfict was ejected in the second quarter for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colts tight end Jack Doyle. Despite the blow, Doyle appeared to be uninjured and walked off after the play. You can see the hit below.
Vontaze Burfict was ejected via replay for lowering the helmet to initiate contact
Burfict has been suspended for a total of 10 games during his eight-year NFL career. And on Monday, it was revealed Burfict had been suspended for the season due to the hit, a decision which he’s planning to appeal. ESPN’s Adam Schefter showed the NFL’s comments on the decision, which Chris Mortenson first reported.
Raiders’ LB Vontaze Burfict’s year-long suspension now official, as @mortreport said.
Gruden commented on the play following the game and appeared to be neutral on the situation, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.
“It’s a tough decision, it’s a tough call. I think it was a flag,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “It was very well-documented that the league was going to review those plays this year in New York City. So, that’s what happened and I’ll wait to hear what their reasoning was. But it was a penalty, he went in there with his head down, it was called and, unfortunately for us, it was an ejection.”
Doyle also didn’t appear to be too upset following the play, saying he felt fine after the hit.
“I haven’t seen [the play], so I can’t really make a statement on it,” Doyle said after the game. “I didn’t feel anything from it, so that was good.
“We kind of joked after the play. Told [Burfict] he has to come a little harder. That’s something I normally say in that situation. I heard it looked bad, but I didn’t feel that bad.”
Now, Raiders fans and Burfict will await the final word on the linebacker’s appeal.
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