Tag: Joseph Ossai

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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This Bengals prank had Joseph Ossai shook and teammates laughing

A wholesome moment from Bengals training camp.

Football is well underway for the Cincinnati Bengals, but that doesn’t mean the summer camp vibes can’t include some fun for players and fans alike.

Case in point, a funny video put together by the Bengals social team featuring defensive end Joseph Ossai.

There, Ossai has to take on a no-look challenge in which he tries to guess what item — visible only to the camera — might be in a box.

Ossai does well enough, but not without some dramatic hiccups, like the alleged sensation of heat at one point and at another, getting grossed out by Jell-O.

It’s a funny thing for fans to see more of a budding star like Ossai like this, so here’s his response and some teammates laughing at him, too:

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Bengals DE Joseph Ossai gives injury updates

Bengals DE Joseph Ossai is on the mend from two different injuries.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai tore his labrum in the second matchup against the Cleveland Browns in the 2022 season and had surgery in February to repair it.

Ossai said the rest from the surgery has helped his hyperextended knee heal, which happened in the AFC Championship against the Chiefs.

Ossai will likely miss the Bengals offseason program to rehab his injuries, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

There shouldnā€™t be an issue for Ossai being ready to play by the regular season. Both Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson had surgery to repair a torn labrum last offseason and were ready for the season opener.

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Look: Bengals’ Joseph Ossai showed up at Bearcats basketball game

The Bengals DE got a standing ovation.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai showed up at a recent University of Cincinnati Bearcats game and made some headlines in the process.

Ossai took to his Instagram stories to capture footage of the game while rooting on the Bearcats’ overtime win over Temple.

According to CLNS Media’s Mike Petraglia, Ossai got a huge standing ovation when introduced. That’s pretty notable for the fact the defensive end was one of the guys taking the most heat right after the AFC title game loss to the Chiefs for that late penalty hit on Patrick Mahomes.

Everyone quickly came to their senses with the reaction to Ossai’s play — highlighted by teammates having his back — but it was still nice to see on Wednesday night.

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Bengals DE Joseph Ossai played through torn labrum, underwent surgery

Joseph Ossai underwent surgery to fix the injury.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph OssaiĀ underwent successful surgery to repair a torn labrum recently.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Ossai played through the injury, gutting out the rest of the season before getting the surgery.

Ossai, a third-round pick in 2021, missed his rookie year before coming on as a sophomore, appearing in 16 games and picking up 3.5 sacks as a key part of the rotational pass-rush.

Given his flashes as a sophomore, the Bengals likely plan for even more work for Ossai in 2023 given his athleticism and versatility to get after opposing passers.

Like other Bengals such as Logan Wilson and Tee Higgins who gutted through the same injury recently, Ossai should be back without a major hiccup.

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Reporter shares amazing story of Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai after AFC title game

An account of how Bengals teammates supported Joseph Ossai after the AFC title game.

In the aftermath of theĀ Cincinnati Bengals losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game, much of the attention centered on Joseph Ossai after what was effectively his game-ending penalty on the hit to Patrick Mahomes.

But while Germaine Pratt’s locker room outburst went viral, onlookers never got the full story of what went on behind the scenes. The most outsiders saw, besides that Pratt moment, was B.J. Hill standing bodyguard for Ossai at the lockers.

But thanks to a string of notes from NFL Network’s Mike Giardi, we now know a little more about what went down.

Defensive end Trey Hendrickson was one of the notables to go well out of his way to make sure Ossai wasn’t feeling too down after the game:

It’s an amazing thread, so many thanks to Giardi for sharing something outsiders would’ve never otherwise seen.

And it’s also just another testament to the locker room culture the Bengals have built over the last few years, where the coachspeak about such things isn’t just a front for the public.

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Joseph Ossai avoids fine for controversial hit on Patrick Mahomes

No fine letter from the NFL for Joseph Ossai.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai wasn’t fined for the controversial hit on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the AFC title game.

Ossai hit Mahomes very late out of bounds on the play, which effectively ended the game near the end regulation. But according to Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams, the league elected not to fine the play.

No word on why the NFL didn’t fine this play but hit 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga with a fine for hitting Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts out of bounds on the same weekend, but so it goes when it comes to the league.

In the aftermath of the play, teammates and onlookers admirably rallied around Ossai, with B.J. Hill notably standing bodyguard at the post-game locker room media scrum.

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VIDEO: How can Joseph Ossai recover from that one big mistake?

How can Bengals edge-rusher Joseph Ossai recover from his AFC Championship mistake? Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling discuss.

In this weekā€™s episode of ā€œ4-Down Territory,ā€ powered by KIA,Ā Touchdown Wireā€™sĀ Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling ofĀ Bucs WireĀ andĀ Draft Wire discuss how Cincinnati Bengals edge-rusher Joseph Ossai can recover from the penalty that helped propel the Chiefs to Super Bowl LVII.

The other big story in the AFC Championship game was of course Bengals edge-rusher Joseph Ossai, who pushed Patrick Mahomes when he was already out of bounds with seconds left in the game, and the subsequent 15-yard penalty put the Chiefs in position for Harrison Butker to kick the game-winning 45-yard field goal with eight seconds left. When you unfortunately have to wear the goat horns in a case like this, how do you get over it?Ā 

Doug: Itā€™s rough. You feel for the human being beyond the game. I will say that Ossai shares the goat horns with referee Ron Torbert and his crew, who missed at least one, and possibly two, holds on Chiefs offensive linemen on that very same play. I know there have been thoughts about rip-move exemptions that would take those penalties away, but do you trust NFL officials to correctly legislate that in the moment? I do not.

Ossaiā€™s penalty (which was legitimate) could have been offset. In that case, youā€™re breathing a sigh of relief and playing for overtime. But Ossai also had one of the best games of his young career ā€“ five tackles, a tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, and a pass defensed. The best thing Ossai can do is to focus on the good, use what happened as fuel for the future, and try to move on.Ā 

The real key for the Bengals is to not let this ruin their future prospects. Because single plays like this can exact a heavy emotional toll. I was in the Seahawksā€™ locker room after Russell Wilsonā€™s interception to Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl 49, and I was in the building a lot in the few years after that.Ā  I donā€™t think that series of Seahawks teams ever recovered from it. You canā€™t let one bad play define your future, no matter how impossible that seems in the moment.Ā 

Luke: I think one of the biggest things is what we already saw Sunday night, with his teammates immediately coming to his side and supporting him. Whether that was Cam Sample on the bench right after, or B.J. Hill in the locker room while Ossai bravely answered for his mistake to the media. This game is played by real human beings with feelings and emotions, who make mistakes just like the rest of us do every day.

The only difference is, our biggest mistakes donā€™t usually happen in a stadium filled with thousands of people, and theyā€™re not broadcast to millions more live on TV. Kudos to Ossaiā€™s teammates for picking him up in the moment, and Iā€™m sure they will continue to do so throughout the offseason. Thatā€™s really the most important thing, and could end up galvanizing the locker room even further for a potential run again next season.

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