Tag: Joseph Ossai

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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Bengals DE Joseph Ossai suffered ankle sprain, could miss Week 1

An injury update on Bengals DE Joseph Ossai.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai exited his team’s preseason finale with an ankle injury of unknown severity.

Monday, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kelsey Conway provided the first update, reporting that Ossai suffered an ankle sprain that puts his status for Week 1 in doubt.

That means Ossai could miss the season opener against the Cleveland Browns, placing more pressure on rotational edge rushers such as first-round pick Myles Murphy. It doesn’t project to impact the team’s plans with the final 53-man roster.

After Ossai suffered the injury in a preseason game that wasn’t supposed to feature any starters, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor explained why the efficient pass-rusher was out there.

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Bengals’ Zac Taylor explains why Joseph Ossai saw preseason action before injury

Details surrounding the Joseph Ossai injury for the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t have much in the way of clarity to offer on the injury suffered by defensive end Joseph Ossai during the team’s preseason finale against the Washington Commanders.

After the game, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the following in a brief exchange:

On how severe DE Joseph Ossai’s injury is:

“Not sure. Not sure. Could be a sprain. We’ll find out.”

On why DE Joseph Ossai played tonight:

“Needed the reps. Needed the reps.”

The Bengals losing a player like Ossai to injury in the third and final preseason game was a worst-case scenario going into the exhibition, especially since the coaching staff had said no starters would play.

Ossai isn’t a starter and, therefore suited up, though whether he needed preseason reps is something sure to be a point of contention amongst fans.

For the Bengals, the hope now is that the injury isn’t a severe one. Defensive line is a strength of the roster, but it should go without saying that Ossai is a key part of the rotational pass-rush.

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Bengals lose Joseph Ossai to injury during preseason finale

An unfortunate problem for the Bengals.

The last thing the Cincinnati Bengals wanted to do was lose a key member of the team in a meaningless preseason finale.

But that’s exactly what happened Saturday night when defensive end Joseph Ossai went down with an ankle injury and left the field with trainers. The team later declared him out.

The Bengals went into the game making it clear that starters wouldn’t play, so it was perplexing to see Ossai out there. While not technically a starter, he’s a key piece of the pass-rushing rotation, and fringe roster guys like Raymond Johnson III needed the snaps.

There hasn’t been official word on severity beyond Ossai getting declared out, which was presumably precautionary in the first place. But it’s a concerning hit for the team to take this late in the summer, right before games start to matter.

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