It’s Pro Bowl week in the NFL and Richie Incognito and Yannick Ngakoue are face to face for the first time since the Bills played the Jaguars in the wild card round. Following the game, Jags defensive lineman Yannick Ngakoue accused Bills offensive lineman Richie Incognito of aiming “weak racial slurs” in his direction. The two AFC Pro Bowl teammates talked this week, according to Peter King of MMQB, and they hugged it out.
According to the King report, Incognito sought Ngakoue out after practice on Wednesday to apologize for his role in the on-field skirmish during the wild card game. Incognito said:
I saw him in the locker room, went up to him, said, ‘Good to finally meet you,’ I apologized for my part in this, and I said I hope we can get a drink here and I can get to know you better. He was cool. We shook hands and hugged it out.
This isn’t the first time Incognito has been accused of using racially insensitive language. Warren Sapp accused Incognito of using racial slurs and there was the bullying incident with, then Miami Dolphins teammate, Jonathan Martin. Seems to be a case of where there’s smoke there’s fire with Incognito.
Incognito wouldn’t say whether or not he used a racial slur but did say lots of things are said on the football field. He continued:
It was important for me to be able to speak man-to-man with Yannick about it. It was a reminder how powerful our words can be. But it gets crazy out there. Real crazy. Things are said and done on the football field that are never said off the field, never seen off the field. What happens on the football field very often is not a reflection of who we are as people. That’s why I wanted to see him here. It’s a great setting to talk as men.
Sounds like the excuse of someone who said something they know they shouldn’t have. The thing is, in the heat of competition, battling, and adversity who you are as a person will always be revealed. Maybe Richie Incognito should do some introspecting.