Following the Buffalo Bills’ Wild Card loss to Jacksonville, Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue took to Twitter to accuse Bills guard Richie Incognito of calling him a racial slur during some jawing on the field.
With both players on the AFC Pro Bowl squad this week, they were going to see each other and ESPN Jaguars beat reporter Michael DeRocco was able to talk with Ngakoue after practice today. The defensive end said he and Incognito spoke before practice and “they’re fine now.” Incognito ran off the field and didn’t do any interviews. Ngakoue also said he wants to “move on from the incident.”
Incognito hasn’t addressed the accusations publicly nor posted on Twitter since the accusation.
Mark Long of the Associated Press caught up with Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson after practice to provide more insight.
“That was really cool, you know,” said Jackson. “We have a huge respect for each other, and sometimes the heat of the moment can get to you and you can say things you might not really mean or do things you might not really mean and be apologetic for it. I think it shows the true character of a man to come and apologize and/or talk about it to clear the air.”
Great win to day! And 64, you goin have to come harder than some weak racist slurs. I’m proud of my African heritage, as are 70% of the other Black players in this league. #Iaintjonathanmartin!
— YANNICK NGAKOUE! (@YannGetSacks91) January 8, 2018
Incognito wears number 64 and the hashtag at the end evokes the name of Jonathan Martin. Martin was Incognito’s teammate with the Miami Dolphins until 2013, when Martin reported extreme bullying to the league at the hands of Incognito. Incognito was eventually suspended eight games for his role in the scandal but returned to the NFL in 2015 with the Bills.
Linemates of Incognito came to his defense, including the two men who directly flank him; left tackle Dion Dawkins and center Eric Wood. Ngakoue’s teammates said they didn’t hear anything either. In a playoff game with a lot of microphones, the NFL probably listened to some feeds to see if they could hear anything, too.
Ngakoue has refused to say publicly what Incognito said.
At the team’s year-end locker clean out, Incognito was conspicuously absent. The next day, general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott spoke about the situation at their press conference with the media. Both said they would follow league protocol.