Bengals coach Marvin Lewis had plenty of words about Sunday’s flag on defensive tackle Domata Peko for simulating a snap count, including calling it a “phantom call” and “kind of ridiculous.”
Considering it led to a game-winning Cardinals field goal instead of a false start and a clock run-off which would have given the Bengals a shot at overtime, that’s a reasonable position for Lewis to take.
But Peko’s own choice of words was interesting, considering his past.
“I don’t think I have ever seen that call, ever since I have been in the NFL,” Peko said, via Coley Harvey of ESPN.com “We had way too many penalties. That was the name of the game. We were fighting the refs and the Cardinals.”
But if Peko doesn’t remember seeing it, it might only be because he was on the other side of the ball, watching someone else do the simulating.
Peko was blocking for the Bengals field goal team on Dec. 13, 2012, when the Eagles were called for doing the exact same thing.
In that game, referee Carl Cheffers described it as “disconcerting signals” against the Eagles, and the video from the league’s own network broadcast Bengals coach Darrin Simmons yelling “that’s on them.”
But all that came after Peko was the one to jump out of his stance, and immediately starting pointing to the middle of the Eagles line.
So the Bengals can be upset, and Peko can claim it was just the bass in his voice that caused the Cardinals to flinch, but he can’t claim that he’s unaware that such a thing has ever been called.