In the wake of last Sunday’s playoff win over the Bills, Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell said that he felt Bills players were going above and beyond in efforts to try to goad Jacksonville players into losing their cool on the way to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Campbell suggested that the Bills players were coached to do that, something Bills coach Sean McDermott called “unfortunate” on Tuesday and then followed up on during an appearance on WGR Radio.
“I’ve heard the reports also of that’s what we were coaching or something along those lines. In fact, the real honest truth was what we coached that week was to be poised,” said McDermott. “Because we know anytime you’re in a playoff game, [it’s a] very intense situation. In fact, going against their defense, they were a team that liked to get a little chippy. We felt like it was important for us to address our players and say, ‘Listen, let’s not beat ourselves.’ And so we talked a lot during the week about poise.”
Bills guard Richie Incognito was also accused of using racial slurs during the game, which the league and the Bills said they are looking into this week. McDermott said the team had not heard anything new from the league since their last comments on the matter.