Bengals DE Joseph Ossai’s Full Circle Moment in Kansas City Nearly Came With Full Redemption

CINCINNATI – With rookie Daijahn Anthony awash in regret and tears in the immediate aftermath of his pass interference penalty on fourth-and-16 and the Kansas City Chiefs’ ensuing 51-yard field goal that dealt the Cincinnati Bengals a 26-25, there were a number of teammates that spoke for him.

And a few that spoke directly to him.

One of those teammates knew exactly what Anthony was feeling after being in a similar situation 20 months ago in the same stadium with a lot more on the line.

From 1 Regretful Bengals Player to Another, Ossai Tells Anthony, ‘Face It. Fix It. Forget It.’

Defensive end Joseph Ossai was playing the best game of his career in the AFC Championship Game before his unnecessary roughness penalty in the closing seconds put the Chiefs in position to kick a game-winning, 45-yard field goal to win the AFC Championship Game and a trip to Super Bowl 57.

“I talked to him today and told him to keep his head up,” Ossai said of his message to Anthony. “That one play doesn’t define him.”

Ossai was in his second year in the league but his first season playing after missing his entire rookie year, so the parallels are significant.

With the help of teammate B.J. Hill, who stood by his side to screen reporters’ questions, Ossai did his postgame interview through tears.

He leaned on a message he learned in college, and he passed it on to Anthony on Monday.

“I just told him, ‘Face it. Fix it. Forget it,’” Ossai continued. “I’m not gonna get into if I thought it was a penalty or not, but it happened. It is what it is, and it’s similar to what I did.

“We’ll move on, and the next time that opportunity comes up, I have full confidence he’ll pick that ball off, and it will be a different conversation.”

Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said it’s great to see teammates stick together like that. Anarumo said he wasn’t aware of Ossai helping Anthony, but he noticed cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt “protecting him in the locker room” after the game.

Ossai has the “face it” and “fix it” part down on his three-pronged recovery tool.

Forgetting is a little harder, especially when returning to the scene of the incident that left him scarred.

Some people may not be aware of how close Ossai came to adding a fourth “F” phrase to his three-step program – “Flip it.”

Any time a team loses a one-point game, especially a back-and-forth one like Sunday’s against an elite opponent, there always are a series of plays or moments that could have gone the other way and changed the outcome.

Had Ossai’s happened, it would have been an incredible story of redemption.

His late shove of Patrick Mahomes gave Harrison Butker the chance to kick a game-winning, 45-yard field goal with just three seconds remaining.

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Anthony’s pass interference set up Butker with a 51-yard, game-winning attempt with three seconds remaining.

The kick was good, but it almost never made it past the line of scrimmage.

Of all people, Ossai was the one who broke through the Kansas City offensive line and nearly blocked Butler’s kick.

THANK YOU HARRISON BUTKER 🙌 pic.twitter.com/SFLjkrxgux

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 15, 2024

“I’ve watched it probably 30 times,” Ossai said. “It looked like the ball freakin’ curved and missed my hand. I don’t know how he did that. I felt it whiz by my hand. It was crazy.”

Most blocked field goals come when a player leaps straight up and gets a hand in the way. Ossai shot forward through the blockers and got into the backfield.

“It’s a combination of different things,” Ossai said. “(Special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons) does a good job of setting those guys up throughout the game, and then when it’s time to hit something like that to go try to win the game, it’s something that works off a couple things we’ve been doing throughout the game.

“It all fell in place perfectly.”

Except for actually getting his hand on the ball.

Ossai wanted to make contact and didn’t.

Anthony didn’t want to make contact and did.

Their Arrowhead memories aren’t kind, but the solution is simple.

“Face it. Fix it. Forget it.”

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said he hated the way Sunday’s game ended but loved what he saw from his players afterward.

“Standing in the locker room after the game, you can see the emotion with the guys, how much they poured onto that field and how much that game meant to them and how disappointed they were,” he said. “And it’s a strange thing to say, but that puts me in such a positive mindset going forward.”

“Just where this team is at and how much they care to take that loss so personally and guys feel like, ‘Man, it was maybe my play’ when it’s not,” he continued. “I like that Daijahn competes as hard as anybody out there, and I want that from him. I want that from Joseph Ossai. Guys play hard and sometimes it won’t go your way. That’s not going to change our process, and we want guys that care that much to where it affects them that way and there’s other guys that can lift them up. That’s what I like about this team.”