Eagles’ Darius Slay talks about the ‘dirty hit’ he took from a Saint, says he underwent an MRI

The Eagles’ 15-12 win over the New Orleans Saints didn’t come without controversy. Tensions grew between the teams after two plays involving Trevor Penning’s out-of-bounds block on Darius Slay and Khristian Boyd’s hit on DeVonta Smith. Both Eagles players left the game in the fourth quarter with injuries.

The Eagles cornerback Slay had a lot to get off his chest on the latest episode of his Big Play Slay podcast.

“Y’all saw the dirty hit,” Slay said. “Big dude at 300-something pounds. I’m only about 190 and buddy is just trying to drive me out of bounds and he keeps going. I understand you got a job to do, you got to block for your teammate, but know when it’s over with. I was already out of the play. [Alvin] Kamara already ran past me and you just kept driving.”

Slay gave an update on his injury status after the hit that forced him out of Sunday’s game.

“I had to get an MRI this morning. The season could have been done, but thankfully, the Lord blessed me,” Slay said. “Everything came back positive. So, I’m just gonna go take care of it, ice it and make sure I stay ahead of the game.”

Slay believes the hit on Smith was much worse than his own. Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson told reporters Sunday that Smith’s hit as “the dirtiest [bleep] I ever saw in football.”

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After catching a pass from Jalen Hurts, Smith was quickly pushed back several yards as his forward progress stopped. But with no whistle,Boyd slammed into Smith from behind, knocking off the wide receiver’s helmet. Smith left the game with a concussion, but no penalty was called on the play.

“That was wild, man,” Slay said. “I know my hit was kind of bad, but it was even worse for the Smitty one. And one thing I know about this Saints team, they’re an aggressive team. They play hard, they play fast. But that hit on Smitty was not called for.

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“One dude was already driving him back. A second dude came in to cap it off, another third dude came to grab him. His momentum is going backwards, so why didn’t the referee blow the whistle? And the fourth guy came out of nowhere and just smacked my dog. ... Now he’s in concussion protocol.”

Slay believes the NFL should take action against the Saints.

“I know there will be somebody getting some hefty, hefty fines coming in their locker rooms, so they better be prepared,” Slay said. “Good thing they have a job that pays very well. Get ready to donate to the NFL foundation ‘cause they got one for you. … Doing stuff like that, money needs to be taken.”

But Saints coach Dennis Allen is fighting back against the allegations of his team playing dirty.

“I’d say our guys play extremely hard and we’re going to compete until the down is over,” Allen told reporters Monday. “I don’t think we play dirty. I don’t think we ever have played dirty. It’s not the way we coach it, not the way we teach it, but we do play hard.

“Look, nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody and unfortunately that’s part of the business that we’re in. No, we don’t play dirty. We don’t coach dirty, but we do play hard and we do play physical.”

Regarding Penning’s block of Slay, Allen said, “We can’t have that. You gotta have some awareness of where you’re at on the field, and that could have been a really costly penalty. I love the aggressiveness, but at the same time, we can’t hurt our team.”