Cincinnati Bengals rookie defensive lineman Joseph Ossai made a name for himself during the AFC Championship game between the Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but not for a good reason.
Ossai was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty on Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes that gave the Chiefs a favorable field position to hit a game winning field goal and make it to the Super Bowl.
The flag gave the Chiefs 15-yards and lined up the Chiefs in field-goal range Harrison Butker converted a 45-yard field goal that sealed the 23-20 victory for the Chiefs, and the AFC Championship with a ticket to the Super Bowl.
“I gotta learn from experience,” Ossai said after the game, according to ESPN’s Ben Baby. “I gotta know not to get close to that quarterback when he’s close to that sideline if it’s anything that could possibly cause a penalty in a dire situation like that. I gotta do better…I was just in full chase mode,” Ossai said. “I was trying to push him, maybe get him going backwards because I knew he was going for that sideline. I was trying to make him go backwards, get that clock running.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor was among those who offered Ossai encouragement after the game.
“He just told me to keep my head up,” Ossai said. “Told me there were a bunch of different plays we had to make, that it didn’t come down to that one, and we just gotta keep moving forward.”
