Rodney Harrison: Dallas Cowboys are “soft” for not confronting Jon Bostic after hit

After linebacker Jon Bostic laid a brutal hit on a sliding Andy Dalton — with the head-to-head contact knocking the Cowboys quarterback out of Sunday’s game — Dallas players checked on Dalton, who later walked off the field under his own power.

But no Cowboys player confronted Bostic of the Washington Football Team, leaving plenty of people to question the lack of response.

“Get knocked out, lay on the ground and no one comes to his defense,” said Rodney Harrison, a former New England Patriots safety and an analyst on NBC’s Sunday Night Football (via the Cincinnati Enquirer). “I just, I don’t understand it.

“I look at the culture of this team, and they’re soft. I mean, you see all those linemen — nobody says anything to Bostic. How could you allow your quarterback to get his head knocked off and no one comes to his defense? But it speaks to the culture. It speaks to the selfishness of the Cowboys. And the Cowboys flat out quit today.”

Dan Orlovsky, a former journeyman NFL quarterback who’s now an ESPN analyst, tweeted his surprise that no Cowboys players confronted Bostic, who was ejected for the hit.

“You’re ok getting whooped on the scoreboard AND getting punked?” Orlovsky wrote.

 

The fact no 1 on @dallascowboys went after Bostic on the Dalton hit is an absolute embarrassment for everyone wearing that uniform.

You’re ok getting whooped on the scoreboard AND getting punked?

You’re not gonna think you can just beat me or my boys up

Give me the 15 yd flag

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) October 25, 2020

It wasn’t just onlookers who questioned the response following Washington’s 25-3 win at FedEx Field.

Coach Mike McCarthy, in his first year with Dallas, also commented on how his players didn’t approach Bostic after a hit that gave Dalton a concussion and further complicates the Cowboys’ quarterback situation.

“We speak all the time about playing for one another, protecting one another,” the former Green Bay Packers coach said. “It definitely was not the response you would expect.”

Dalton was on the field because quarterback Dak Prescott is lost for the year after a compound ankle fracture and dislocation suffered earlier this month.

Following Dalton’s injury, rookie Ben DiNucci took over under center. DiNucci is a former James Madison standout who the Cowboys selected in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

After the game, when asked about the criticism surrounding Dallas for not responding to Bostic’s hit, running back Ezekiel Elliott said the disapproval was “fair.”

“But doing that you got to be careful because we’re already down a bunch of guys,” Elliott continued. “If you go in there and throw a punch, you get kicked out the game, you can’t help the team from the sideline. You can’t help the team from the locker room. So we’ve got to find a way to not cross that line but still got to protect our guys.”