Cincinnati Bengals players we instructed not to talk about the now-infamous personal foul called on Mike Hilton late in his team’s Week 8 loss to the New York Jets.
Bengals players were very open about being outplayed after the shocker of a loss, with Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon and Jessie Bates even presenting a united front in a post-game presser that stressed accountability.
But they didn’t touch the personal foul — and it turns out the team told them not to, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“They were told not to talk about the personal foul called on slot cornerback Mike Hilton, a rarely called helmet-to-helmet tackle on third down that would have given the Bengals’ one last shot. Instead the Jets ran out the clock.”
Makes sense — anything the players had to say on the topic would have likely flirted with criticism of officials, which the league would have then fined.
The officials that made the call, though, got to have a post-game presser of their own and talk about why they made the call.
Team decree didn’t stop Hilton from taking to social media and throwing a jab in about it while keeping things positive though — and it’s hard to blame him:
I just don’t know what a tackle is anymore! It’s fine we will bounce back! Much more left to accomplish! #RuleTheJungle #Bengals
— Mike Hilton (@MikeHilton_28) October 31, 2021
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