The NFL is a league of entertainment, and it may be at its peak when there’s some drama in the games.
This Thursday night matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals has some storylines that were evident before the season even started – the largest being Tua Tagovailoa and Joe Burrow leading the teams as the top two quarterbacks from the 2020 draft.
One storyline that may have flown under the radar prior to the week was the budding, potentially-friendly rivalry between Bengals cornerback Eli Apple and Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill which stems back from their meeting in the AFC Championship Game.
Ahead of this matchup, Hill called out Apple, letting the cornerback know that the wideout is coming for him this week.
Apple hasn’t spoken to the media recently, but he had poked at Hill on social media after their meeting back in January.
Oh yea that chiefs cheetah pack finna hit way crazier the 2nd time 🔥😮💨
— Eli Apple (@EliApple) January 30, 2022
He’s a baby ! @cheetah https://t.co/M6GIKF7igP
— Eli Apple (@EliApple) January 30, 2022
While Apple has been silent, his teammates in the secondary have been speaking up, including Chidobe Auwzie, Mike Hilton and Jessie Bates.
“It’s football,” Awuzie said to WCPO. “It’s entertainment. That’s what people want to hear, people want to see. I thought it was funny. We were all laughing at it. It’s all good competition. You can’t go out there and fight somebody, so we’re going to play football at the end of the day. It’s going to be fun… It’s fun. It adds some spice to the game. Now, y’all talk about it. People talk about it. It builds a little hype.”
Awuzie echoes the entertainment belief that many football fans hold. This is supposed to be fun, and comments like these make the competition that much better.
Hilton defended Apple a bit more, but he wasn’t surprised by what Hill said.
“You come at one of us, you come at all of us,” Hilton said with a smile. “We don’t need to do any talking. We’ve got a job that we have to do on Thursday, and we feel like they’re in our way. We just have to go out there and try to win.”
“He’s just a guy who’s going to be honest and open about how he feels, and that’s how he feels. We’re excited to go out there Thursday and make some plays…[the play that Apple made in the AFC Championship Game] must’ve still been in his head a little bit, obviously, if he brought it up.”
Bates may not be a captain this year, but he feels like one of the leaders of the unit. He spoke about Apple’s mentality and took a pretty funny shot at Hill.
“Eli’s always pumped up,” Bates said. “I’m not sure if you guys have seen of him jumping on the goalpost and stuff like that. That’s just kind of how Eli is. Somebody comes after Eli he’s coming after all of us. We’re all up for the challenge… No, I’m not surprised. I don’t know if Eli got him tickets to the Super Bowl last year or not. I think that’s probably why he’s a little upset.”
While the words are all fun, the game will be much more serious. It will be difficult for the Bengals’ secondary to keep up with Hill and second-year wideout Jaylen Waddle, as it has been for most teams.
If one team takes a large lead in this game the playful banter could boil over. For now, though, there’s some real competition on the horizon.
