Joseph Ossai Wiki, Biography
B.J. Hill is 6-foot-3, 311 pounds, and had just spent three hours trying to catch Patrick Mahomes. Now the Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle had taken on a new job, the most intimidating and perhaps protective press agent in the world.
Inside a devastated Cincinnati Bengals locker room, Hill stood directly over teammate Joseph Ossai’s left shoulder and warned the media that had gathered in front of them.
“Any dumb questions and I’ll shut this down,” Hill said. There was no reason not to believe that he would, or even more so if necessary.
The Bengals had just lost the AFC Championship Game, 23-20 to Kansas City, on a field goal with just three seconds remaining. In the packed locker room after the game, there were tears and deep, gasping exhalations and heads buried in hands.
“Extremely painful,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said.
Nowhere was that pain more than with Ossai, the second-year defensive end. With eight seconds remaining, Mahomes broke free of the pocket and drifted to the right for a first down. Ossai gave chase, trying to track down one of the most elusive players in the NFL.
As Mahomes passed the sticks, he headed for the sideline in an effort to stop the clock. Just as he was going out of bounds, Ossai stepped in and shoved him with his right arm, knocking them both down. It was unnecessary textbook harshness. Multiple flags flew.
The extra 15 yards sent Kansas City from the Cincinnati 42 to the 27. Instead of needing a Hail Mary or an unlikely 60-yard field goal to win the game, the Chiefs sent Harrison Butker to send them to the Super Bowl with a 45 -outfielder. He did it.
The late hit was the final and deciding play of the game. Ossai knew immediately, ending up on the bench crying. He knew the reactions that were coming.
“You have to be more aware,” they shouted on the Bengal’s radio broadcast. “Why [expletive] would you touch the quarterback?” Cameras caught teammate Germaine Pratt screaming as she entered the locker room. Social media was, well, social media, vitriol peppered with the occasional message of sympathy.
In the locker room, their teammates hugged him. They tried to lift it. They patted him on the back and told him it was just one play in a game of many, that it was a hustle mistake, not a sign of anything more than “playing your heart out,” as Hubbard put it. Head coach Zac Taylor came over and hugged him and let him cry on his shoulder.
To Ossai, the endorsement meant the world, but he also thought he had let the Bengals world down.
“I have to be better,” Ossai said.
This is a moment of individualized sports trauma, a nightmare, something that is much easier to say should be played down than actually played down. Perspective was hard to find.
Ossai was born in Nigeria and moved with his family to Conroe, Texas, about 40 miles north of Houston, at age 10. The transition was difficult. The family of seven lived in a one-bedroom apartment, and his accent made him easy prey for bullies at school.
His consolation of him became football. He would grow to 6-3, 263 pounds and become a star. He then went on to play at the University of Texas, was named an All-American, and was drafted in the third round by the Bengals. He has speed, power and a relentless engine.
However, he knew he had made the biggest mistake in the biggest game. There is no good playbook for this. All he could do was hope for sympathy and understanding.
“I was in full pursuit mode,” Ossai explained. “And trying to push [Mahomes] so maybe I’ll take him back [out of bounds] and make the clock tick… I’ve got to know not to go near that quarterback when he’s coming up to that sideline.”
Hill stood up and listened to every question and every answer. He cut off two questions that he considered “silly” or perhaps unfairly accusatory.
“Ask a better question, bro,” Hill snapped.
The media posse continued. This was a teammate, literally standing up for another teammate, shoulder to shoulder, side by side, question by question. At its darkest, this was awesome.
Everyone knows that these things can persist, haunt and drag down reputations and careers. In this case, in these first minutes, Hill was going to do everything possible so that it was not like that.
When football teams talk about being a family, well, this is being a family.
“It didn’t come down to that play,” Hill said. “I won’t tolerate silly questions that make it seem like it was all his fault. It takes more than him. It takes a whole team.
“That’s my brother,” Hill continued. “I’ve been in that situation before, too. I had a chance to make a game-winning sack [against Dallas]. I just missed a sack. I’ve been there. Trying to blame it on one person, I’m not going to have that.
“The way he plays his butt off each and every play,” Hill explained, “that’s how he practices and that’s how he plays. I have no problem with that play because I know what his intentions [were].”
Those sentiments were echoed across the locker room. At least publicly. Support. Brotherhood. Sympathy. This loss was painful. So close to victory. So close to the Super Bowl. Yet that’s football. Only one team is happy at the end. A million things lead to it.
“It’s a blessing,” Ossai said of the outpouring by Hill and others. “I’m sorry things didn’t go our way.” It may not be enough for some fans or even some teammates or perhaps for Joseph Ossai to truly put this behind him. Time will tell. Time will, hopefully, heal.
It was enough for now though, a stand-up guy facing up to the worst mistake he ever made on the field in the biggest game he’d ever play. And a teammate standing with him in Bengals solidarity, saying as much about this team as any victory ever had.
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