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We all remember the 2021 AFC championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals.
You also might remember the beef between Cincy cornerback Eli Apple and ex-Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, among others. As a refresher — after beating KC to make it to the Super Bowl, the trash-talking DB called Hill a “baby” and offered to buy him and Mecole Hardman two tickets to the championship game.
At the time, Hill didn’t offer much of a public reaction, replying “no Twitter beef” on social media with the added suggestion that Apple should message him on the side. Well, Hill’s Miami Dolphins kick off Week 4 tonight on Thursday Night Football against Apple’s Bengals, and this time the superstar wideout decided to get a little more public with his drama.
Tyreek Hill Calls out Eli Apple During Lead up to Week 4
The beef sparked up again earlier this week when Hill told reporters that he “can’t wait to go up against Eli Apple” on primetime — via Yianni Kourakis of WPBF 25 News. “I owe you, boy,” he stated boldly at the cornerback.
Hill continued: “I owe you. I’m here. the Cheetah is here. Let’s eat.” At this point, the NFL player rivalry felt more like a UFC preview outside of Hill’s locker but it didn’t end there.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was asked about Hill’s comments and the young signal-caller threw some fuel to the fire, noting that “if Tyreek’s matched up with him and we call the play for Tyreek, and it’s one-on-one, I’m giving Tyreek a shot.” Tagovailoa added: “Just know that [Hill] is getting the ball [in those situations].”
Of course, there was a response from the Bengals side too, courtesy of safety and defensive leader Jessie Bates. Pro Football Focus insider Ari Meirov relayed the comments.
“I don’t know if Eli got him tickets to the Super Bowl last year or not,” Bates trolled. “I think that’s probably why he’s a little upset… If somebody comes after Eli, he comes after all of us, we’re all up for the challenge.”
Although Apple has chosen to go radio silent ahead of the grudge match, the stage is set for someone to win this war of words tonight on primetime. The Thursday night game may not involve Chiefs Kingdom but the drama certainly does.
The only question for Chiefs fans to ponder as they enjoy some early Week 4 football is, are you still team Tyreek after all his offseason chatter?
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs Respond to Beef of Their Own
In case you missed it, Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass rusher Shaq Barrett was talking a whole bunch of smack before Week 4 too.
“I really don’t think it’s too much of a difference,” Barrett sounded off during a video press conference. “I think we have a lot of favorable matchups. I think we have an opportunity to really dominate the game. We got an opportunity to really impose our will as pass rushers, edge rushers in this game and really have like a coming-out party. I know we had six sacks the other game but I feel like we can really have a coming out party as [edge defenders].”
Later in the afternoon on September 28, Patrick Mahomes II was asked about Barrett’s quote and he did offer a more measured statement as his response.
“Yeah man, I trust those five guys that we have out there,” Mahomes reacted. “I feel like we have one of the best offensive lines in the league. We’ll go in there with that mindset.”
Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. also had this to say regarding the Bucs beef: “I already think that we’re a very motivated group. We understand that. We didn’t play up to our standards last week and we have our own expectation of ourselves up front, man. When people make comments like that, it is what it is, but I think what’s most important is that we know what we want to do and the standard that we set for ourselves as a unit and individuals to go out there and compete.”
Not as spicy as Hill vs. Apple, but it’ll do for some bulletin board material on Sunday.
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