The Cincinnati Bengals appeared to pull a bit of a fast one on the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as the referees, during Sunday’s game.
The Bengals mistakenly had 12 men running onto the field for a defensive play in the first half, and while they realized it quickly, it still was not quick enough to get the correct personnel on the field in a timely manner. Not wanting to take a penalty or use a timeout, Bengals safety Jessie Bates III went to ground and grabbed his upper leg.
Jessie Bates got sniped pic.twitter.com/akS4ELnS3I
— JM Football (@JomboyMediaFB) December 4, 2022
The Chiefs and the referees are going to be reluctant to accuse someone of faking an injury, but that is sure what this looked like, as the safety looked perfectly fine standing in the huddle moments before. Bates did quickly return to the game, too, in case you were wondering.
Virtually nobody was buying Bates’ injury, as commentator Tony Romo called it out immediately. Despite that, there was not much the officials could do about it. It is an unfortunately common tactic across the league, and while Bates’ move was more blatant than most, he won’t be the last to pull it.
