Getty The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver made a ridiculous claim following the loss.
By all accounts and measures, New England Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore dominated his matchup against Cincinnati Bengals wideout Tyler Boyd on Sunday. After all, he did hold the Bengals wideout to his third-lowest yardage total of the season.
But don’t tell that to Boyd.
The Bengals receiver was held to just three catches for 26 yards and failed to tally a reception in the first half. But despite that, the 25-year-old claims he won the majority of his matchups with the opposing Pro Bowl cornerback in Week 15.
Via Zack Cox of NESN:
“It was just 1-on-1,” Boyd said, according to the transcripts released by Bengals PR. “I won the majority of the matchups. … But the two plays he made were great plays.”
Never mind the fact that Boyd had entered the game ranking 12th in the NFL in receptions, averaging 5.6 receptions for 64.1 yards per game or the fact that his team lost 34-13 in an absolute smothering.
Tyler Boyd Continues to Make Outlandish Claims
Outside of his bizarre claim of winning his matchup with Gilmore — he obviously didn’t, he was absolutely smothered — he also threw his team under the bus by criticizing game management after Gilmore’s pick-six.
“We were running an out route to the field with man coverage (and he had) outside leverage,” Boyd told reporters. “Think it’s going to be a pick? … He was already in perfect leverage. We should have called a slant.”
In fairness to Boyd, Gilmore did claim that he knew what route Boyd was running on both of his interceptions.
“They’ve got to switch the play up, because — I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I knew the route,” the All-Pro corner said.
In keeping up with his bizarre claims following the game, Boyd not only maintained that he won his matchup with Gilmore — he claims that the 1-13 Bengals should have defeated the 11-3 Patriots.
“We should have won,” Boyd told reporters. “We just didn’t do well in the passing game.”
Patriots Clinch Playoff Berth for 11th Consecutive Season
While the Patriots still have some work to do if they want to clinch their 11th consecutive AFC East division title, they’ll be rest assured in knowing they at least have clinched a bid for the postseason.
Following their 34-13 victory over the Bengals, New England clinched a playoff bid for the 11th consecutive season — and for the 17th time in the past 19 seasons.
While head coach Bill Belichick is rarely overly complimentary of his team, he didn’t hold back in complimenting his team for clinching a postseason berth following the win, via Hayden Bird of Boston.com.
“This is what you play for,” Belichick said. “You play to keep playing. You win three, four, five games, I mean there are big wins along the way there, but you don’t really get anything for winning that, five, six, seven wins in this league. That doesn’t matter, but when you can win enough to play in the postseason, that’s one of our goals. So it’s a good thing. We’ll be able to continue our season.”
The Patriots will have the opportunity to clinch the division when they host the 10-4 Buffalo Bills in Foxboro next Saturday.