Tom Archdeacon: Bittersweet homecoming for Bengals rookie Tyler Boyd

Well, here’s one thing he hoped would happen – and did – on his homecoming at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon.

Tyler Boyd, the Cincinnati Bengals 21-year-old rookie wide receiver, grew up in the metro Pittsburgh area, starred at local Clairton High School and then at the University of Pittsburgh, whose home stadium is Heinz Field, same as the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Boyd said he played “a lot of huge games” on this field in high school and college and Sunday he said he had “a ton” of family and friends here to watch him and his Bengals teammates take on the Steelers in what has become the most heated rivalry in the NFL.

“I want to do a great job of letting my name be heard and felt (Sunday),” Boyd had told Bengals.com a few days before the game.

And now – after the Bengals' 24-16 loss to the Steelers that was assured by a controversial play involving Boyd – everyone has heard of the young receiver's name.

Once again, Pittsburgh – which has now won six of its last seven games against Cincinnati – found a crushing way to seal the Bengals’ demise.

The litany of ways they have made their defeat of the Bengals especially gnawing goes back years.

They left linebacker Keith Rovers with a broken jaw, quarterback Carson Palmer with a destroyed knee and punter Kevin Huber with a broken jaw. A.J. Green was sidelined with a concussion two years ago and Giovanni Bernard was KO’d, too.

Then there were the loss-of-composure penalties at game’s end to Bengals defenders Pacman Jones and Vontaze Burfict in last year’s playoff game and, of course, there was the Jeremy Hill fumble, too.

Sunday’s game, by all accounts, was pretty clean said several players afterward.

But there was another devastating fumble, though this one has stirred debate and controversy.

With 1:50 left in the fourth quarter and the Steelers leading 24-16, the Bengals were driving straight down the field.

That’s when quarterback Andy Dalton found Boyd on a 6-yard pass that would have had the Bengals in a second down-and-four situation at the Steelers 33 yard line.

As Boyd made the catch and was going down, he was hit by Steelers veteran linebacker James Harrison.

Boyd’s knee appeared to have already touched the ground when the ball squirted out and was picked up Pittsburgh safety Robert Golden, who returned it to the Cincinnati 46 before he was tackled.

Officials ruled Boyd had fumbled, but the play was then reviewed.

“At first when it happened, I didn’t know what happened because it was so quick,” Boyd said. “But then after I watched the replay (on the stadium’s big screen video board,) I saw my knee was obviously down and I still had possession of the ball.

“Just because my whole body wasn’t down, (at least) my knee was down clearly. Then I just waited for the ref to make that call.”

Most replays seemed to show Boyd’s knee was down before the fumble and Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said the officials on the sideline told him that before the final ruling was made.

>>> RELATED: Bengals say referees blew fumble call

As he waited on the field for the call, Boyd admitted that while he thought the call would be reversed, he still was “crushed.”

“I’ve got to take better care of the ball,” he said. “You practice and perform and do ball security (drills) and things like that so much day after day, that you feel it can’t happen. That’s why it hurt so bad.”

His Bengals teammates could see he was stunned and a few came over top buoy his spirits. As the teams waited, a couple of Steelers did the same, most notably linebacker Stephon Tuitt, who patted him on the shoulder pads.

But then – after watching the replay multiple times on a sideline monitor – referee Pete Morelli made the call.

The call would stand.

Boyd had fumbled.

Pittsburgh was able to run off five plays before punting the ball back to Cincinnati for one final play with eight seconds left at the Bengals 20.

To add insult to injury, Bernard then fumbled an 8-yard reception that Steelers end Cam Heyward recovered as the final gun sounded.

As Boyd walked off the field, he said he felt numb:

“I felt a little feeling in side, one I didn’t like. You always want to make the play that wins the game, not one that ends the game.”

He had been excited to come back here Sunday.

“Pittsburgh is my town,” he said proudly.

He said he had watched the Pitt game on his phone on the plane ride over from Cincinnati on Saturday and had gotten text messages from several of Panthers players.

He was a local hero coming back home. In high school, he scored 117 career touchdowns at Clairton, which went 48-0 in his three years as a starter. In three seasons at Pitt, he had 248 catches for 3,308 receiving yards and 21 TDs.

That’s why the Bengals made him a second-round draft pick last spring. They saw him as an eventual replacement for receivers Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu, who were lost to other teams in the offseason.

And that’s why several players, especially fifth-year cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, took it upon themselves to see that he kept his head up

“I told him, ‘No matter what, keep your head up,’” Kirkpatrick said. “’At the end of the day we don’t look at you as a rookie. Rookie was in the preseason.’

“I feel like he has to play like a veteran now so he takes some heat off A.J. (Green) and talks some heat off Andy.

“He’s a great guy, a great kid, a great player. I don’t want him to feel like he’s in a dark place now. I’m pretty sure every guy in this locker room did something bad today. His was just highlighted.

“That’s why I’m passionate about playing corner. And it’s the same for a receiver. Any little thing we do wrong, everyone in the building knows it.

“If you’re a tackle or a nose guard and you miss something, who knows? Who really cares about that? No one knows what base defense they’re playing in there.

“But positions like ours, everyone sees you and knows who you are.”

And that’s just what Tyler Boyd had hoped for Sunday.

Just not like this.

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