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Angry at what they saw as unfair treatment from the NFL, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals took out their frustrations on the Buffalo Bills — then took some time to troll their fans.
The Bengals dominated the Bills in a 27-10 win in their January 22 divisional round game, moving easily through the Buffalo defense while shutting down Josh Allen and the offense. The game itself was surrounded by some controversy, with Bengals players openly griping about the NFL’s formula for the canceled Week 17 game that took away Cincinnati’s chance to beat the Bills and move into the No. 2 overall spot.
After the win, Burrow sounded off on the league and Bills fans, making fun of them for pre-selling tickets to an AFC Championship game that will now never take place.
Joe Burrow Twists the Knife for Bills Fans
In the lead-up to Sunday’s game, several members of the Bengals expressed frustration that the NFL sold tickets to what would have been a neutral site AFC Championship had the Bills won and advanced to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. After Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed against the Bengals in Week 17, leading to a nine-day hospitalization and a canceled game, the league decided that the teams would play at a neutral site if they both advanced.
Though it is standard practice for the league to pre-sell tickets to hypothetical playoff games — and the Bengals sold their own tickets for a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in case they had defeated the Chiefs in the divisional round — some Bengals players felt slighted by the sales.
“To be honest, it’s disrespectful, but we’re not worried about that (expletive),” Bengals running back Joe Mixon said earlier in the week, via SI.com’s Bills Central. “We got a game to play on Sunday, right? So you can’t count us out. We’re going to go out there on Sunday and we’re going to do what the hell we got to do to come back with that W. And then we’re going to see what they’re talking about.”
After Sunday’s win, Burrow decided to troll the league and Bills fans over the early ticket sales.
“Better send those refunds,” he said, via Yahoo Sports.
Zac Taylor Joins in Trolling Bills
Even the Bengals’ head coach took part in poking fun at the league and the multiple scenarios that could have occurred as a result of the canceled game. Had the Bengals lost their final game and the Baltimore Ravens won, the teams would have gone to a coin flip to decide who held home field in their ensuring playoff matchup.
Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s win, he offered a tongue-in-cheek apology for ruining the league’s plans.
“We had our mindset to play Kansas City,” Taylor said. “It is tough because they have to formulate the plans for a coin toss, they got to formulate plans for a neutral site game and we just keep screwing it up for everybody and I hate that for them. People to have to endure all those logistical issues and then we just keep screwing it up, so I’m sorry.”
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