Paul Dehner Jr.

pdehnerjr@enquirer.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Following the Bengals’ playoff loss to Pittsburgh, Boomer Esiason sat on the CBS desk and said he was embarrassed as a former Bengal at the behavior of Cincinnati’s players in the 18-16 loss in the wildcard round.



The Bengals quarterback from Super Bowl XXIII placed blame on Marvin Lewis for inability to control his players as the game unraveled in the now infamous final seconds.

Sitting in a media room promoting CBS’ coverage of Sunday’s game, he didn’t back off his feelings about Lewis, but admitted in retrospect blame should be spread all around.

“It falls on the coaches,” Esiason said. “I probably should have called out Mike Tomlin as well. These two teams, it’s created something I don’t think the NFL wants. I don’t think anybody wants to watch it.”

The two teams racked up more than $228K in fines during the final two meetings of the season – contests marked by personal fouls, late hits and brutal injuries. Esiason could only harken back to his days of Sam Wyche against Jerry Glanville with the Oilers to find anywhere near the passion or intensity of a rivalry in his time as a player.

No other comparisons held up to what he witnessed this season.

“There is an intensity there that is bordering on lunacy,” he said. “I know both coaches were told before the game to control their players to make them understand it’s only between the whistles. That game got out of control.”

In Esiason’s mind, the Bengals side of the issue all turns back to a single source.

“Unfortunately for Marvin, it’s only one player. It’s Vontaze Burfict that has kind of been the impetus for a lot of this stuff,” Esiason said of Burfict, who was suspended three games by the league following the playoff game for repeated player-safety violations over the course of the season. “He’s a great football player but he crosses the line. That falls on the coach. It’s one thing if it happens one time. Two times I get it. All right, a third time because it’s really intense, but to have it happen seven times there is an obvious problem there. It’s obvious Vontaze cannot control his emotions on the field when they need to be controlled at the most important times.”

Esiason will serve as an analyst on Super Bowl Today this Sunday for CBS, but he hopes no matter how intense the emotions of the Panthers-Broncos matchup it doesn’t spill over to the street-fight mentality seen in the Bengals-Steelers game or altercation between Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Panthers cornerback Josh Norman this season.

Though, he did share a theory from his experiences on why it won’t be an issue with Pittsburgh running back DeAngelo Williams earlier this week. Williams, coming off his first season with the Steelers, said he already hates the Bengals.

“Then I said to him, why is it that Joey Porter got thrown out of a game when he was a player before they played the Browns?” he said with a smile and joking tone. “Why is it that the Steelers and Ravens had all those wars against each other and now the Bengals and the Steelers? What’s the common the thread through all of those issues? The Steelers. They bring it out in everybody, it’s their fault.”

Esiason played 10 years for the Bengals as part of those rivalries and laughed heartily through what was clearly good-natured ribbing in his observation. After all, those types of comments have consequences on the CBS desk.

“I've got to deal with the head Steeler of them all in coach (Bill) Cowher every week,” he said.