CINCINNATI — After this game in an Ohio-based visitors’ locker room, Diontae Johnson was relaxed, eager to speak to reporters and generally in a good mood.
Johnson’s demeanor after Sunday’s 16-10 Pittsburgh Steelers win at the Cincinnati Bengals differed greatly from a standoffish refusal to talk to media after last week’s 13-10 loss at the Cleveland Browns.
“It’s big. We had to get this win,” Johnson said after Sunday’s game in which the Steelers amassed a season-high 421 yards and never went three-and-out.
Johnson’s foul mood after the game in Cleveland wasn’t merely because of a futile offensive effort against the Browns. An ESPN report published this past weekend stated Johnson got into “a heated argument” involving veteran defensive teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick before Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt stepped in.
The ESPN report referred to Johnson’s antics as an “altercation” in which he was “chirping” at coaches while walking off the field and required Heyward, Watt and coach Mike Tomlin to “calm everyone down” and “address the situation.”
The contrast of basking in the glow of a hard-fought victory certainly helped improve everyone’s mood Sunday. But for his part, Johnson downplayed the situation in Cleveland.
“It really ain’t nothing,” Johnson said. “That’s my brothers at the end of the day. Players, we gonna be players. We’re passionate about the game, and everybody wants to win. You can’t look at it as we had an all-out brawl or whatever. It ain’t that, so don’t get it twisted. Players, everybody’s doing it on each and every team, talking junk to each other. We squashed it. We won the game today. That’s all that matters.”
Diontae Johnson says he didn’t see Jaylen Warren’s fumble that so many have said he didn’t try to recover
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 26, 2023
He also says the media making too much of his post-game remarks to teammates last week (reported by @AdamSchefter ) pic.twitter.com/sZmMVhP2nM
Johnson had four catches for 50 yards — including a 39-yard reception — during the win against the Bengals. That surpassed Johnson’s combined production for the previous two games when he had three catches for 33 yards during games against the Green Bay Packers and Browns.
Still, Johnson’s day was not without controversy. The CBS television broadcast showed an angle of a Jaylen Warren first-quarter fumble on which it appeared as if Johnson nonchalantly walked past a loose ball while the Bengals were scrambling to recover it.
“I didn’t see it,” Johnson said when asked after the game about the sequence. “I was just doing my job blocking or whatever it is.”
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