Early scuffle in Cowboys-Browns game leads to ejections of Cam Erving, David Irving
— -- CLEVELAND -- An early scuffle in Sunday's contest between the? Dallas Cowboys?and the? Cleveland Browns?resulted in the ejection of an Erving and an Irving.
Browns center Cam Erving and Cowboys defensive end David Irving both were ejected after they scuffled following an incompletion by Browns quarterback? Cody Kessler?with 12 minutes, 44 seconds left in the first quarter.
Replays showed Irving did not have a helmet; it appeared that Erving ripped off the helmet and threw it at the Dallas end, who retaliated. Both players were penalized.
Referee Jeff Triplette ejected the players. His crew has ejected five players this season. The rest of the NFL officiating crews have ejected four players.?
The league has now more than doubled its total number of four ejections for the 2015 season and remain on pace for at least a 15-year high in that category.
The highest number of ejections in a season is 13 from 2001, which is the furthest back the ESPN Stats & Information database goes.?
The pair of ejections had a bigger impact on the Browns.
Erving is the Browns' starting center on a line that has dealt with injuries all season. Left guard Joel Bitonio is out for the season after surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury in his foot. Erving missed three games with a bruised lung, and one of his replacements,? Austin Reiter, tore a knee ligament.
Irving is a backup defensive end. He was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week after the Cowboys' Oct. 16 victory over the Green Bay Packers with three forced fumbles.
John Greco moved from right guard to center to replace Erving, with rookie Spencer Drango taking over at left guard and Alvin Bailey moving from left to right guard.
Kevin Seifert and Todd Archer contributed to this report.
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