Daron Payne ejected: Why Commanders DT was booted from Week 10 game

Staff Writer
Daron Payne ejected: Why Commanders DT was booted from Week 10 game image

It has been a frustrating season for the Washington Commanders, and we saw some of those frustrations boil over in the Week 10 game against the Detroit Lions.

With the Commanders getting handled by the Lions in the first half, defensive tackle Daron Payne was ejected from the contest with a shade under 10 minutes left in the second quarter.

It goes without saying that the Commanders could ill-afford to lose one of their best defenders, but that is a reality they will have to overcome for the rest of the game as they look to climb out of a massive hole.

So, what happened? Here's what we know.

Why was Daron Payne ejected?

Payne was ejected for committing an unnecessary roughness penalty in the second quarter following a play inside the red zone.

Payne was flagged after punching Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, according to video shown during the television broadcast.

Check out video of the punch below. Payne threw quite the haymaker (Payne and St. Brown can be seen on the right side of the video).

Unfortunately, we have no idea what led to Payne throwing that punch, but clearly it made him mad enough that he risked breaking his hand by hitting St. Brown's helmet. That's next level rage.

Just an inexcusable act from Payne, who needs to do a better job of keeping his cool. We get it, it has been a rough season, but there are no excuses for that.

At the very least, Payne is going to get hit with a fine, but it wouldn't be shocking if he gets himself suspended.

At the time of the ejection, the Commanders were losing 22-3. Losing Payne is only going to make Washington's day longer and uglier.

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Editorial Team