The Cincinnati Bengals did their share of talking in the build-up to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs, and all that bulletin-board material is coming back to bite them since that 23-20 loss.
Probably no Bengals player has heard more from the Chiefs than cornerback Eli Apple. Just ask Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Ahead of the game, Apple trolled Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs about Buffalo’s divisional round defeat, which — along with Mike Hilton’s “Burrowhead” talk — rubbed the Chiefs the wrong way. Apple actually played a solid game on Sunday, allowing just 17 yards, but he was called for a holding penalty that gave the Chiefs a first down in the fourth quarter.
eli apple critical holding call on third down, negating a sack and giving the chiefs a first down with 10:00 to play in the fourth quarter of the afc title game. hate to see it. you really do. pic.twitter.com/3N4Eit5ASX
— alex brasky (@alexbrasky) January 30, 2023
Valdes-Scantling was asked about that penalty in an interview with Mitch Holthus, and Valdes-Scantling said with a smile, “I was just whooping him all game. That was just another play where he couldn’t cover me well enough.”
“I was just whoopin him all game”-MVS on Eli Apple😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ZA1MZ4SrGV
— Braiden Turner (@bturner23) January 31, 2023
To be fair to Apple, he didn’t really get whooped all game, and the Chiefs ended up punting despite that penalty. But the comments did show what the Chiefs think about the Bengals cornerback. A solid statistical game was never going to save him from the blowback if the Bengals lost.
Fans also had thoughts on Valdes-Scantling’s comments.