Bengals WR Tyler Boyd makes bold statement in reflection of Chiefs game

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd and his teammates all had their 2022 season end at the hand of the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game earlier this year. But Boyd’s year ended a little earlier.

Boyd was injured in the second quarter of the game, suffering a deep thigh bruise and missing the rest of the game.

One half later, Kansas City left the field with a 23-20 victory to advance to the Super Bowl, which the Chiefs won over the Philadelphia Eagles.

But Boyd believes that if he was healthy for the entire game, it would have been the Bengals that walked off the field victorious that night.

“Still to this day, I feel like if I would have played the whole game, I was the key factor,” Boyd said, via ESPN’s Ben Baby. “We would’ve won the game.”

Joe Burrow finished the game with 270 yards on 26 of 41 with one touchdown and two interceptions. Tee Higgins led the offense with six catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Ja’Marr Chase added six catches of his own for 75 yards.

Boyd — who had two catches for 40 yards — said he tried to get back and play during the game but that he wasn’t physically able to do so.

“I just felt like we had enough depth for guys like [Trenton Irwin] and other guys to come in and play at a faster pace than what I felt like I could do,” Boyd said. “I wish I was able to do it, but things happen.”

Tyler Boyd has been a key player in Cincinnati for half a decade

Tyler Boyd has been a key member of the Bengals receiving core since his teammates Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase joined him to form one of the more dynamic duos in the league.

The former Pitt wideout has spent his entire NFL career with the Bengals, first joining the team in 2016 after being selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

He had 58 receptions last season for 762 yards and five touchdowns.

The Bengals went 12-4 during the regular season before defeating the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills in the playoffs on their way to the AFC Championship Game.

It was a repeat of the previous season’s conference title game, one which the Bengals had won on a field goal in overtime. Boyd had four catches for 19 yards in that year’s contest.