“Everybody’s calling me, texting me, making fun, sending me the Vines,” he said. “I had 10 to 15 people send me Vines right after the game. I was like, ‘Man, this thing just blew up quick.’ ”
What lit the viral fuse wasn’t just that Scott threw up on television, but the fact that on the play after his final protein spill he fired a 12-yard touchdown pass to Conner Vernon and then ran in the two-point conversion.
“I thought he was tough,” offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said. “I thought he was gutty. I thought he showed a lot of poise. And he showed he can overcome being sick.”
While Scott was talking to reporters about the incident in the locker room Saturday morning, cornerback Terence Newman walked up and said, “I see ya’ll have met Willie Beamen,” a reference to the character in the movie “Any Given Sunday” who nervously puked after taking over for the injured starting quarterback and then threw a touchdown pass.
But Scott said his throwing up had nothing to do with nerves and instead blamed it on a sinus infection that had been plaguing him all week, although Thursday was not the first time he has vomited on a football field.
He did it at least twice during his senior season at Arizona in 2012. The first incident came after he took a blow to the head. Three plays after puking, Scott fired a touchdown pass that accounted for the winning margin in a 39-36 upset of No. 9 USC.
The Arizona training staff took a lot of heat for not adhering to concussion protocol, but Scott said they shouldn’t have because he never had any symptoms other than throwing up. The following week against UCLA he did suffer a concussion and had to sit out a game. Then in his return to action, Scott vomited on the field again against Utah and was removed from the game.
Had Scott been forced to leave Thursday’s game, the Bengals would have been in a tough spot with backup Jason Campbell unavailable with an arm injury and starter Andy Dalton being the only other quarterback on the roster.
“I would have suited up before putting Andy back in,” Jackson joked.
But Scott stayed in, threw the touchdown and drew praise from his teammates and coaches.
“You’ve got to be impressed with what he did,” head coach Marvin Lewis said. “He stayed composed. I think he taught the whole football team a very valuable lesson of a guy busting his tail to make a football team. If it’s not this team, it’s another team.
“That’s a spent man,” Lewis continued. “He literally is leaving everything out there.”
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