C.J. Gardner-Johnson is blaming the New Orleans Saints, his old team, for the concussion his Philadelphia Eagles teammate DeVonta Smith suffered in their game on Sunday.
It was a hard-fought battle that could go either way, but the Eagles took the 25-12 victory in the end, though one of their best players went down with an injury in the process.
The Eagles’ 25-year-old wideout exited the game early in the fourth quarter after a collision with Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd. The referees didn’t flag the play, but DaVonta Smith never returned to play after the hit. He laid on the ground for several minutes, with his teammates and head coach Nick Sirianni checking up on him, until he could finally stand back up and go to the sidelines.
Gardner-Johnson talked to the media in a post-game interview, putting the blame on the Saints’ “dirty play.”
“That’s the dirtiest [expletive] I ever saw in football, bro. Y’all obviously saw that forward progression was stopped. And for them to take a cheap shot on one of our key players, it shows what kind of team that is,” the Eagles safety said.
“Man, that’s the dirtiest s—- I ever saw in football, bro.”
Former Saint C.J. Gardner-Johnson reacts to the hit that injured DeVonta Smith. pic.twitter.com/mXKfcYXDMH
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) September 22, 2024
The game against the Saints on Sunday was C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s first time playing against them; he played for the Saints from 2910 to 2021, which may have made the game feel personal to him.
Before he went out, Smith caught seven passes from Jalen Hurts for 79 yards. While he couldn’t score, the Eagles still took their second win in the season after Saquon Barkley took over and scored fourth-quarter touchdowns of 65 and 4 yards.
What C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s Philadelphia Eagles’ teammates said about DeVonta Smith’s concussion
C.J. Gardner-Johnson wasn’t the only Philadelphia Eagle to react to the concussion injury DeVonta Smith suffered on Sunday. More of their teammates took to the internet to share their uncensored takes on the incident.
Tackle Jordan Mailata said he was confused, wondered if Khristian’s hit on Smith was done on purpose.
“Did I think it was dirty? Yeah. “Did I think it was intentional? No—ah, I don’t [expletive] know. I’ve got to watch it. I’m conflicted as you can tell. I hope Smitty is OK, ” Mailata said.
Center Cam Jurgens expressed his frustrations in seeing Smith go down hard the way he did.
“You see something like Smitty getting hurt today, that’s frustrating,” Jurgens said. “I hope everybody’s alright. There were a lot of injuries, but it sucks when a player gets hit like that.”
In a rematch of the 2023 wild-card game, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the Eagles will be facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The game is scheduled on Sunday, September 29, at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
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