Tag: Joseph Ossai

Joseph Ossai over Myles Murphy explained by Bengals coaches

A sour point for fans gets an answer from Bengals coaches.

A rather stunning development has caught Cincinnati Bengals fans off guard in recent weeks.

No, not the inability to beat good teams — Joseph Ossai is consistently out-snapping former first-round pick Myles Murphy.

This has been especially jarring because it seems like Murphy, fresh off an injury, would be inserted as one of the guys to possibly save a defensive line that has played some terrible ball this season. Ossai has been a liability against the run, which has seemingly held him back from a bigger role in the past.

Instead, Ossai has seen a bigger uptick in playing time. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo merely attributes it to his improved play, too.

“(Joseph) Ossai is giving us great effort and giving us physical play in the run game,” Anarumo said, according to WLWT’s Charlie Clifford. “He’s kind of stepped his game up in my opinion. No knock on Myles. (His) arrow (points) up. I just like what Joe’s doing.”

At this point, the line rotations feel a lot like the secondary that keeps shuffling names — desperate.

If Ossai is producing more than Murphy, great. But that’s not what a team that has a terrible time securing good draft classes lately wants to see from a first-round pick. And it makes the future messier when recalling that Ossai is on the final year of his deal and might not be back next season, anyway.

These are the types of things that generally go overlooked if a team is winning. But right now, stuff like this goes under the microscope as the team searches for answers in real time right in front of fans.

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Lou Anarumo makes telling comment about Joseph Ossai’s playing time

The Bengals haven’t used Joseph Ossai very much and Lou Anarumo hinted at the reason.

The Cincinnati Bengals have a serious problem rushing the passer, which often leads to one big question from fans — why not use Joseph Ossai more often?

Ossai, after all, is an incredibly gifted pass-rusher who can post some high-efficiency numbers when able to do so.

The problem is his actually being able to do so.

Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo put it best this week, as captured by CLNS Media’s Mike Petraglia: “We’ve got to work with Joe and help get him in a position where he can help us win.”

Other teams have figured out how to attack when Ossai is on the field. He’s a liability in the running game, which showed up again on at least one major Commanders play last Monday. He’s got a 47.0 PFF grade on the season already for a reason.

These struggles, at least partially, explained why he only played 20 percent of the snaps over 14 games last season. He’s up to 41 percent right now, but there are only so many must-pass scenarios for opposing offenses.

Ossai is a little like Zach Carter in the middle of the line as another former third-rounder who just isn’t developing into an every-down or even major contributor.

That’s especially problematic on the edge, where former first-rounder Myles Murphy is on injured reserve and Sam Hubbard appears to be fading fast.

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Bengals’ Joseph Ossai fully healthy heading into critical contract year

Joseph Ossai sounds ready to make a big impact in 2024.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai was something of a confusing point for fans last year.

After 334 snaps in 2022 that suggested he might be ready for a bigger role in the rotation, Ossai played just 177 in 2023.

It turns out that Ossai was working through injuries and only just now had his first fully healthy offseason with the team.

“The biggest difference is mentally, being mentally stable and being able to see yourself in a position to deal with the things you need to, as far as taking on blocks,” Ossai said, according to Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network. “You’re not thinking about how you’re moving, or you feel a pinch and you’re thinking, ‘Did the surgery go well? Is everything healed? Am I going to be completely ready?’

Last year, Ossai came back from shoulder surgery and suffered an ankle issue over the summer that never got fully right.

Now entering the final year of his contract, this could be a sign of things to come for Ossai. The team needs more rotational impact to keep Sam Hubbard and Trey Hendrickson fresh for an entire season. Alongside former first-rounder Myles Murphy, Ossai has always displayed the ability to be super disruptive when he can stay on the field.

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Joseph Ossai getting help from Trey Hendrickson over offseason

Joseph Ossai is getting help from one of the best in the business.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai is looking to make some improvements to his game this offseason going into his third year in the league, and he couldn’t be getting help from many better places than he is.

Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com wrote that Trey Hendrickson has taken Ossai under his wing in the past year, and told him to stay in Cincinnati with the Bengals’ strength staff instead of going home to Texas during the offseason.

“This past year, he just helped me develop, helped me with my pass rush mentality, and then also just out of football,” Ossai said. “We would go to a church ministry at night once a week. Outside of football, we both found something that we could kind of connect with and just him mentoring me.”

Ossai has dealt with multiple injuries in his two years with the Bengals, but he has played through a lot, still getting to 30 combined games in those seasons.

He said that Hendrickson is helping to improve his mental game so that he’s able to move on from plays that he didn’t make in the past, or he got flagged on, like the late hit that was called in the AFC Championship the Bengals ultimately lost.

Whether Ossai will make the improvements he’s setting out to is yet to be seen, but it definitely can’t hurt when it’s Hendrickson who’s helping him work.

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Bengals coach talks lack of Joseph Ossai usage this season

What’s going on with Bengals DE Joseph Ossai?

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai was one of the more curious things around the team this season.

After looking like a possible breakout player with high upside, Ossai regressed this year in terms of participation in a notable way on a team that needed help rushing the passer.

Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo addressed this before Week 18, telling CLNS Media’s Mike Petraglia that Ossai has put in the effort, but that “We’re taking some lumps along the way with these young guys.”

Anarumo mentioned that Ossai needs to start next season healthy, which will be a point of angst amongst fans — he suffered an injury in the third and final preseason game last summer while no other starters took the field.

Ossai played 300-plus snaps last year but has 151 this season over 13 games, with it sounding like health has played a role in the decrease.

For now, though, Ossai still sounds like a player the team will turn to, alongside first-rounder Myles Murphy, as key pieces of the pass-rush next season.

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Lou Anarumo says Germaine Pratt-Joseph Ossai mishap proof of Bengals culture

Lou Anarumo speaks on that infamous viral moment when Germaine Pratt yelled at Joseph Ossai after the AFC title game.

Last postseason after the AFC championship, Cincinnati Bengals Germaine Pratt went viral in about as bad of a way possible as cameras caught him questioning the now-infamous roughing-the-passer penalty by Joseph Ossai on Patrick Mahomes.

That now-infamous mishap from Pratt quickly became an afterthought though, as most could understand it was a heat-of-the-moment outburst and Pratt quickly made that clear the next day during interviews.

Fast forward to now, Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo says he actually used that moment as a good example of the culture he can build while interviewing for head coaching jobs elsewhere.

“The next day in the locker room,” Anarumo told Peter Schrager. “Germaine is basically crying, saying you know, it’s my fault, I was, you know, I shouldn’t have said what I said. Joe is one of the reasons we got to this point. Just squashed it immediately. I didn’t have to say nothing to him. Zac didn’t have to say anything to him.”

More importantly, Anarumo says the whole saga is a good example of how far the Bengals have come together over the last five or so years.

The whole clip is worth a watch, given how impressive it is that the unfortunate moment caught on camera managed to bring the Bengals closer together.

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Bengals get good injury updates on Joseph Ossai, Nick Scott

Two key Bengals defenders are moving in the right direction.

It’s good news for the Cincinnati Bengals on the injury front for key defenders as the team preps for next Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Before practice on Thursday, head coach Zac Taylor said both safety Nick Scott and defensive end Joseph Ossai were making positive progress.

That proved true not long after, with Scott returning to practice in limited fashion after the concussion during the loss to the Ravens last week. Ossai returned too and got some work in as a full participant, suggesting he might be able to give it a go on Monday against the Rams after missing the first two games of the season.

Both are key ingredients for the defense, with the pass-rush struggling during the first two games and Scott a big part of the revamped secondary that still needs time to get on the same page.

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Joe Burrow, Joseph Ossai listed on first Ravens vs. Bengals injury report

The first Ravens vs. Bengals injury report is here.

First things first — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was a full participant during the first practice of the week as the team gets ready to take on the Baltimore Ravens.

Burrow told reporters on Wednesday that his calf felt a little sore, but he was otherwise fine, hence the full practice.

Elsewhere on the injury report, Chris Evans, Logan Wilson and Joseph Ossai were limited participants. Wilson is a new addition and listed as an ankle. Ossai is on his way back from the injury suffered during the preseason finale and could indeed ramp up and be ready to go against the Ravens.

That’s good news, considering defensive end Cam Sample was the only player to miss practice outright after suffering an ankle injury in the loss to the Browns.

So far, it’s good news for the Bengals on the injury front, with two more reports to go before kickoff this weekend.

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Bengals get encouraging update on Joseph Ossai’s injury

Some positive momentum for a Joseph Ossai return.

Last week, the Cincinnati Bengals got some bad news on the Joseph Ossai injury front.

As the Bengals prep for the season opener against the Cleveland Browns though, things seem to be progressing in a positive manner for the standout defensive end.

Ossai, battling an ankle injury, was in uniform during Monday’s practice and going through work on the rehab field, as noted by onlookers such as The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.

That’s a pretty good sign compared to the last time fans heard about Ossai being in a walking boot. It might also explain why the team didn’t put him on injured reserve to keep him out of action for about a month.

As it stands now, there’s some momentum to the idea that he could be working his way back in time for a Week 2 showdown with Baltimore, or even Week 3.

Either way, it’s starting to trend toward Ossai returning before he would have if the team had placed him on injured reserve.

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Bengals get bad news on the Joseph Ossai injury front

Another update on Bengals DE Joseph Ossai.

The news has gone from slightly bad to worse for the Cincinnati Bengals when it comes to defensive end Joseph Ossai.

A preseason finale ankle injury initially reported as a sprain that could cost him Week 1 will now stretch longer.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kelsey Conway, Ossai says he could miss up to four weeks, with a two-week re-check that could at least cost him the Week 2 game against Baltimore.

Adding to this, Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com noted that Ossai had a boot on his foot on Wednesday.

We’ll see if the Bengals decide to shift Ossai to injured reserve for the short-term in order to make other moves. But this development won’t encourage fans livid that Ossai was out there during a preseason game to ease off.

With Ossai out, the Bengals will presumably turn to the combo of Cam Sample and first-rounder Myles Murphy for help.

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