Bengals' Joseph Ossai under Fire for Late Penalty, 'Costed' Them the Game
On Sunday, a back-and-forth Bengals-Chiefs matchup was subjected to a rather shocking conclusion. The outcome of the game was possibly brought on by Bengals DE Joseph Ossai, who was called for unnecessary roughness with only fifteen seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The penalty was given after Ossai had made contact with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes after he had already made it out of bounds. With practically no time remaining, the penalty placed the Chiefs' offense into field goal range, which made the flag on Ossai that much more unacceptable. This resulted in Chiefs Harrison Bukter knocking down the 45-yard field goal and sending his team to the Super Bowl. This penalty has broken the hearts of the Bengals’ team and the entire fanbase, which has led to Ossai receiving extreme backlash. Following the mistake, Ossai could be seen bawling his eyes out on the bench. His tears continued off the field and into the locker room. A video has even surfaced of teammate, Germaine Pratt, demonstrating his frustration and yelling at Ossai, regarding the penalty, as the team enters the locker room. Ossai is only 22 years old, and it can be seen as wrong for someone so young to be receiving this kind of treatment for an honest mistake. He is clearly upset with himself enough, and all of this external negativity he is now currently facing can be very harsh on the player’s mental health. Despite all of the anger being held towards Ossai, most of his teammates appear to be taking his side to show support. An interview shows Ossai accompanied by his teammate BJ Hill, who only had kind words to share about the player, regarding the situation. This is exactly what Ossai needs right now. It also should be noted that Ossai had been receiving praise all game for his performance from the announcers. One mistake should not be how a player is remembered. One player and their mistake should also not take the entire blame for a game’s outcome. Yes, Ossai’s penalty could not have come at a worse time, but it is still wrong to place blame on the player when the game’s outcome could have been written already depending on the performance of the rest of the team up until that point.
This was the scene at Joseph Ossai’s locker with BJ Hill stepping in to provide support https://t.co/8vn1OOlhOQ pic.twitter.com/nbUnoCkzfp
— Michael Niziolek (@michaelniziolek) January 30, 2023