Some of the details of Mike Wallace’s awkward benching have started to trickle out, but it’s still a matter of he say, she say.
Dolphins players were reportedly irate over Wallace allegedly asking out of Sundays loss to the Jets. Wallace didn’t speak to reporters after the game, and instead had Brandon Gibson speak for him.
Monday Wallace finally broke his silence, and his says the reports of him quitting are false. Wallace maintains he was benched.
But Wallace denied that and other similar reports on Monday. He said he heard through receivers coach Ken O’Keefe at halftime that he was benched by Philbin.
“I said OK,” Wallace said.
“It was coach’s decision,” he said. “I went along with it. I just went along with what coach says.
“Coach makes the best decisions for the team. I feel like coach felt like he made the best decision. He did what he thought was right.
“I didn’t know why he did it. You have to ask coach.”
Philbin said only on Sunday that it was a coach’s decision and didn’t shed more light into the situation on Monday.
“I had a conversation with him during the game and made a coaching decision,” Philbin said Monday. “It’s really nothing more complicated than that.
“I’ve never discussed private conversations with players to anybody. It was a private conversation. He and I had a discussion. Then I made a coaching decision. Really, that’s all there is to it.”
Wallace may be the only high paid wide receiver in the league that would get benched that quiely. Could you imagine Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson or Antonio Brown being given the option of playing or sitting?
All would play through whatever frustrations they were dealing with, and address the slights at the proper time. The Dolphins signed up for this misery, so I don’t feel bad for them.