The veteran CB later apologized.
It’s one thing not to point fingers after a loss, but it’s a whole other thing to use your resume as a reason to avoid accountability. Say what you will about guys like head coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts, but their first comments following a loss are about what they could have done better and how they need to improve.
It seems as though one of the team’s captains didn’t get that memo, with Darius Slay tweeting out his list of completely unrelated accomplishments to offset his performances so far this season.
This just isn’t what you want to see from a locker room leader. At the very least it tries to minimize his poor play and excuse whatever his contribution was to one of the Eagles’ worst losses in decades. But, at the most, it also looks like Slay is trying absolve himself of any blame for the Buccaneers scoring 24 points in the first half and completely throwing his teammates under the bus.
Another former Eagles veteran, Kevin Byard, — who is now with the Bears — chimed in to amplify the behavior, with Slay contending he needed to cool down.
It was probably preferable for Slay to take a breath and re-evaluate his priorities after the loss. Through the first three games, the CB allowed a 121.5 passer rating when targeted, which is not great. And even if he was playing lights out, there’s a time and place to tout previous accomplishments, but after a game with failures in all three phases is not it. They mean absolutely nothing at that moment in time, particularly after the dumpster fire that fans were subject to on Sunday afternoon.
An apology is fine, but taking accountability and playing better is the preferred outcome here.