Aqib Talib and the Broncos lost their first game of the season against the Colts and the Pro Bowl Cornerback had two penalties late in the game that killed any chance of a comeback for his team. One of those penalties was an eye poke on Dwight Allen, Talib who was talking to reporters after the game insisted that it wasn’t on purpose and blame Allen for exaggerating on the play.
“From my angle, I see [Allen] head-butt Von [Miller] a little bit. I went over to poke his head, and I think my hand slipped and hit his face,” Talib told reporters after the game. “He acted like he got in an 18-passenger car wreck. I guess that’s what type of guy he is.”
Talib who will certainly face a fine from the league already started his defense speech to justify the eye poke.
“You think I play football to poke people in the eye? It was an honest mistake.”
Dwight Allen, of course, doesn’t share the same view on the incident as he thought it was intentional.
“You’re taught since little league football to play to the whistle within the boundaries of the game,” Allen said. “I just felt like Aqib, who is a heckuva player, Pro Bowl player, a guy of his caliber I look up to, went outside the boundary of the game and decided to take a cheap shot.
“Out of nowhere, I saw something, and it went into my eye. First time I’ve ever been poked in the eye intentionally when I’m not on the bottom of the pile. Very blurry. My eye is still really sore.”
Talib also had a penalty for “berating an official” which prevented the Broncos to get the ball back for an attempt at a comeback. Luckily for the cornerback, it is still early in the season and he has time to rectify these behavior patterns as he received his third unsportmanlike conduct penalty of the season. The Broncos have great athletes on defense but if they are to become one of the best defenses in the NFL like some people already think they are, they will need a lot more discipline.