November 02, 2016
Even the most stubborn Eagles fan can admit that Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott looks like he’s going to be a thorn in the rest of the NFC East’s side for at least few years and possibly many more.
The Birds did a pretty good job against the NFL’s leading rusher on Sunday Night Football, limiting Elliott to just 96 yards on 22 carries. Before the game, the Eagles would have signed up for that level of production in a heartbeat. You might have even thought they would win holding Elliott to such a reasonable number, but as we all know, other complications got in the way of that.
Elliott seems to consistently move the pile, which might not please former Cowboys and Eagles offensive lineman Brian Baldinger. The NFL Network analyst, who lives locally, was on 97.5 The Fanatic last week and suggested the Birds put a bounty on Elliott:
“This is the guy that that we’ve got to hurt,” Baldinger said of Elliott. “This is the guy that we’ve got to take out of the game. There’s got to be 10 guys that want to hurt him every single play. In fact, we may even put a little bounty on Ezekiel Elliott.”
“You want to cut off the head to kill the body, that’s the guy you’ve got to get to,” Baldinger said.
The “kill the body” line is a version of former New Orleans Saints and current Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ famous Bountygate speech. You know, the one that got him suspended for a year and was a PR fiasco for the league. As an analyst for the league’s television network, it probably wasn’t the smartest choice of words for Baldinger.
And according to the Sporting News, Baldinger is going to pay for those comments:
The NFL Network has suspended analyst Brian Baldinger for six months without pay for suggesting the Eagles put a "bounty" on Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, Sporting News has learned.
NFL Network spokesman confirmed the punishment Wednesday.
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