Getty Stefon Diggs #14 of the Buffalo Bills kneels on the ground after a play against the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Divisional Playoff game at Highmark Stadium.
Just over three weeks have passed since the Buffalo Bills were eliminated from the postseason following a crushing 27-10 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Divisional Playoff game, and Stefon Diggs is just starting to process the devastating loss.
The team’s No. 1 wide receiver was unable to contain his frustration with how poorly the team was playing during the win-or-go-home matchup and his fourth-quarter outburst toward quarterback Josh Allen quickly went viral, as did reports of him packing up his belongings and bolting from the locker room after the game.
While participating in media events in Phoenix, Arizona leading up to Super Bowl 57, Diggs made it clear that he’ll never apologize for his passionate reaction. “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show on February 11, but one day later, the 28-year-old veteran admitted that he does have one major regret.
Here’s Stefon Diggs bolting out of the locker room with his stuff just after yesterday’s game. He was one of several players to leave quickly.
Sean McDermott said he was in the locker room when he addressed the team and “that’s what matters most.”
If he could do it all over again, “I probably wouldn’t have walked out,” he told E! News. “It was just a moment of frustration, so much time put in. But that’s the only thing if I could take back I would. Just because I love my guys, and I have utmost respect and appreciation for them, so I hope they understand. And they did.”
In an exclusive interview with Heavy Sports, former Bills legend Fred Jackson shed light on the Diggs situation. “On the outside looking in, yeah we can say can he have handled things differently? But that’s what you lean on. That’s what you go from, from the perspective of those guys. The guys that are with him every day, bleeding with him, working hard with him at practice. They know what he brings to the table. And they know how he feels about them as teammates and brothers. He’s out there busting his butt every time he’s out on the field so that’s why they give him that grace of saying you what man? We feel you. we understand you’re coming from and we have no issue with the way you voiced it.
“As a former player and captain, I think that speaks volumes in itself when everyone that knows him personally say we have no issues with the way he handled himself.”
Allen Took No Offense to Diggs’ Fiery Reaction
GettyJosh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills and Stefon Diggs #14 of the Buffalo Bills celebrate after a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns at Ford Field on November 20, 2022.
Allen said during his postgame press conference on January 22 that he took no offense to Diggs’ outburst. “He’s a fiery competitor,” the 26-year-old said. “He wants the ball. Whatever it was that we couldn’t get him the ball tonight, we’re gonna have to learn from.”
Bills general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermot also mentioned how they’d be more worried if he didn’t have such a passionate response to losing. McDermott said during his postgame presser, “He’s a competitive guy, and that’s what makes him good, is what you saw. He’s very competitive, like we all are. We work extremely hard at these jobs to be the best we can possibly be, and it hurts. I wouldn’t want a guy that it doesn’t hurt.”
Diggs told E! News, “I’ll forever wear my emotions on my sleeve. This isn’t just a game for me, I put a lot of time in it and people don’t really understand it… The thing that people see as just entertainment, we’re giving it everything we got. This job involves a lot of passion, a lot of aggression. You gotta really, really love this game to play this game. So, I could never apologize for my emotions. I’m more so just thankful that I got ’em, because I know some people that don’t care. But I really do.”
Diggs Revealed What Caused Him to Lose It on the Sidelines
Stefon Diggs is not happy right now.
During his appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Diggs made it clear that it was just not getting targeted on that fourth down that bothered him, but a culmination of his frustration from the back half of the season.
“I feel like the first nine weeks we kind of had a formula, a recipe for winning, and we kind of got away from it on the back end,” Diggs said. “It was just some crucial moments in the year, late in the season, late in the fourth quarter, there was opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. So I feel like that last series, or that last play, when you saw frustration, it wasn’t necessarily just that play, but those moments built up to it.”
“Up to this point, we’ve seen quarterbacks and receivers in tandems that play at a high level, and every quarterback has that guy in those moments… and I’ve been that guy for my team and for my quarterback. So in those moments, of course, I want the ball. I’ll never apologize for that… In that moment, it was fourth and whatever, and I wanted to put us in a position to win.”