Bengals coach defends human-injury-machine Logan Wilson

The Baltimore Ravens won a game on Thursday night. That was great. It was even better knowing that they earned that victory against a division opponent in the Cincinnati Bengals, that they did it by a resounding 34-20 score, and that the Flock is now a virtual postseason lock.

The Ravens, sadly, also suffered a huge loss on TNF as tight end Mark Andrews was ruled out for the remainder of the game early and for the remainder of the season on Friday with a cracked fibula and ankle ligament injury.

The reason for that loss (and the ones that Baltimore luckily escaped)? Reckless Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson and his extraordinary tackles.

A soon-to-be-banned hip-drop tackle on tight end Mark Andrews sidelined him for the season as already stated above. In the same quarter, Wilson targeted Lamar Jackson's ankle, causing discomfort for the Ravens quarterback although Lamar was lucky to avoid further damage. Finally, Wilson's hit on wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s shoulder forced him out of the game in the fourth quarter, visibly in pain.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, frustrated by the ensuing "narrative," defended Wilson, calling it "reckless." Taylor finished his Friday presser by saying Wilson "plays with a toughness and a physicality that I think is important for that position."

Wilson's controversial hip-drop maneuver (legal for now), was used on Andrews and has been a topic of discussion throughout the year, not only now, with the NFL Players Association supposedly against the league banning such tackle but the NFL committed to prohibiting the action in the 2024 season after a league review next offseason.

According to ESPN, it was highlighted at NFL owners meetings in October that "hip-drop's injury risk is 25 times greater than a normal tackle."

Ravens coach John Harbaugh questioned the necessity of Wilson's tackle on Andrews himself following the game and feared the worst, which was confirmed on Friday with the announcement of Andrews' season-ending injury.

Wilson's involvement in multiple plays resulting in injuries sparked criticism but not even that (again, three injury-bound tackles) made his coach criticize him at least a tiny bit.

The Ravens lead the AFC North 8-3 entering Week 12 before going on a bye. The Bengals dropped to 5-5 and lost Joe Burrow for the remainder of the season after hiding his wrist problems from the injury report.

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