“I was feeling a little sick when I woke up this morning,” said the Cincinnati Bengals linebacker. “I had the flu and didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. When I got here today I told Vinny (fellow linebacker Vinny Rey): ‘I’m gonna need you today. I’m gonna need your energy so I can play.’”
Burfict was recounting this conversation as he stood in the locker room following the Bengals' 32-14 dismantling of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
He had had a game-high 15 tackles. He defended four passes and intercepted Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz twice. The last Bengals linebacker with multiple picks in one game was Odell Thurman 11 years ago.
As he stood there shirtless at his locker – covered in tattoos, each forearm bearing glistening red wounds, the size of 50-cent pieces where the skin had been torn away – Burfict was laughing and kibitzing with linebacker Karlos Dansby, who dressed next to him.
“I feel good now,” Burfict said.
That’s what happens when a team wins its first game in 42 days.
The Bengals – once thought to be a lock to make their sixth straight trip to the playoffs – came into the game with a dismal 3-7-1 record and their playoff chances all but dead.
While they had been decimated by injuries to some star players, they also had played poorly. In recent weeks their followers had debated the wholesale revamping of their offensive line and running game and the jettisoning everybody from kicker Mike Nugent to Coach Marvin Lewis.
Then came Sunday when Cincinnati scored on its first six possessions and was up 29-0 before the Eagles could recover.
“This really feels good,” Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, who had caught a 13-yard touchdown pass, said afterward.
“When you’ve had a stretch like we’ve had, you forget that winning feeling. This brings back some of that appreciation. Everything kind of changes.”
A quick look around the dressing room showed you what he was talking about.
Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick stood at his locker wearing a colorful plastic tiger head, complete with fangs, that was fashioned into a hat.
“A little kid, maybe 9 or 10, was standing on the corner (of the stands) when I was walking out after the game,” he said. “He asked me for my ball cap. I never give no one my ball cap, but today was different.
“So I traded him for his hat. It’s all about respecting the fans. We haven’t been winning games lately so on a day like today you want to give them what you can.”
Further down the way receiver Brandon LaFell was talking about the best game he’s had in three seasons – going back to 2014 when he was a New England Patriot and they won the Super Bowl.
He came to the Bengals this season and when A.J. Green went down with an injury, it was hoped he could bolster the receiving corps.
Sunday he and quarterback Andy Dalton were perfectly in sync and he finished with seven catches for 95 yards and a touchdown that came on a pinpoint pass in the back of the end zone that left two Eagles defenders helpless.
“Andy and I practiced that very same play five or six times in practice this week —and we got it every time there too,” LaFell said. “We’re feeling comfortable with each other now.”
After talking about the possibilities that could come on the field, he spoke about the weight of the day away from the game.
The NFL allowed players to wear special cleats as part of the “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign.
Various Bengals wore footwear that drew attention to everything from pediatric cancer and autism to the Special Olympics.
LaFell held up his pastel-hued shoes:
“Mine are for the LaFell Group. It’s my foundation. We focus on assisting families who have kids who have speech development problems. We assist them by paying for speech therapy, things like that.
“My oldest son, Brandon, had a speech delay. For us to go through it, even with insurance through the NFL, the therapy sessions still cost $150 each afterward. We figured most families couldn’t afford that, so my wife and I decided to make this the focus of the foundation.
“Having a big day today helped bring focus to that, too.”
No one, though, had a better day than Burfict.
Although he missed the entire preseason as he recovered from surgery – and then sat out the first three games of year as part of an NFL suspension for his hit on Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Brown in the AFC Wild Card game last January – he has come on strong of late.
Sunday was his fifth straight game with double-digit tackles.
Whether it was because he was feeling better than he had in the morning – or because of his game-changing play – Burfict was more amiable afterward than he usually is.
His “Bad Boy of the NFL” reputation is well known on the field – where his play has often gotten him penalized, fined and angrily singled out by opposing players who question his tactics – but he can sometimes be just as edgy and confrontational when media types try to engage him after a game.
Sunday he was briefly contemplative and funny and, as always, profane.
The best exchanges were with Dansby, who Burfict thought let him down on his biggest moment of the game.
He had just intercepted Wentz for the second time and had seemed headed for a touchdown. He returned the ball 47 yards, but was finally caught by Eagles quarterback, who pushed him out of bounds at the Philadelphia 20.
“Go ahead. Say it!… Say it!” Dansby teased when someone asked Burfict why he hadn’t scored.
“Los, the (expletive) didn’t block for me,” Burfict grinned. “I was looking for him, thinking: ‘Come on. Come back.’ But he didn’t block anybody.”
“I was neutralizing that quarterback,” Dansby said. “I knew he was the fastest guy on the field then.”
Burfict shook his head:
“Wentz hit me, too. I didn’t know he was behind me. I wish I had seen him ‘cause I would have lined his (butt) up good.
“It’s all Los’ fault.”
Across the room LaFell got wind of the linebackers’ give and take:
“That’s Burfict. He’s a fun guy, a guy we all feed off of. But he thinks he’s the best at everything. He thinks he’s the best running back. He thinks he’s got the best hands.
“Now with two interceptions We’ll have to hear about this the rest of the season.”
As he took in the whole scene in, LaFell smiled, then, with a bit of quiet reflection, he shook his head:
“All this is a great, but I just wish we would have gotten more of it earlier in the season so we’d be in a better situation than we are now.”
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