Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai, coming off one of the best games of his career in Thanksgiving Night's win in Baltimore, sat down with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson to talk about a buffet of subjects that starts with Sunday's game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) in Buffalo.

Ossai, the Bengals' sack leader with a career-high five, talked about his growing leadership role, how the Bengals defense put away it's press clippings, his plans to help immigrant children who are bullied as he was and what it feels like to go viral on a holiday.

The Conversation

GH: Why in the world were you wearing shorts at practice Wednesday. It was about 30 degrees.

JO: It's going to be about 15 over there. Just trying to be prepared for whatever and not let the cold be a factor. I was just trying to get my mind right. Shorts. No gloves. Get ready to attack.

GH: When you got in the tunnel to go out, it sounded like you were shouting you were crazy.

JO: The initial wind hit me, and it made me almost change my mind. But, like I said, we've got to be violent. You've got to be violent. And I've got to prepare for that however I can.

GH: Coming off the first multiple sack game of your career on Thanksgiving and there you are celebrating eating the NBC turkey. And it goes viral when you're trying to eat and give an interview at the same time.

JO: That's all that's going around right now. That's all anybody's talking about. I guess I should have slowed down. I should have known better. Just slowed down on the bites I was taking. I took a huge bite to start off, and then I kept going. If anybody knows me, they know I like to eat fast.

GH: The guys must be killing you.

JO: They were. It was all fun. All fun and games. Everybody was having fun. I got back to family and friends and that's all they could talk about. Everybody was laughing. Everybody loved seeing it. It's a blessing to be up there at the end of the day.

GH: It seems like you've taken more of a leadership role this year. Would that be fair to say?

JO: I've been a lot more vocal, for sure.

GH: Why?

JO: A lot of reasons. A lot of reasons. It's needed. Year five now. I feel like I'm at a point where guys respect my voice. I'm naturally a lead-by-example guy because I'm big on cutting my grass or taking care of my grass before watering others, so naturally I'm just a lead-by -example guy. In years prior, maybe in my head I was thinking, I need to lead by example. I need to do it first before I can speak up about it.

But year five, there's only much, so much you can do. And then you're starting to look around, and now you're the older vet in the room, so you've got to be more vocal. You've got to speak up more. You've got younger guys all around you. They're looking up to you. You're already at the front of the drills, your drill work is being used as teach tape. They want to hear what you have to say. They want to see how you see things, how you might have played this and that. So, naturally, you've got to be more vocal. And I think that's what's happened for me. I just have to step up and speak.

GH: You haven't had Trey Hendrickson for six weeks. What kind of pressure has that been?

JO: Not as much pressure as anywhere else. He's a huge presence for our defense. And when a presence like that leaves, you feel it. It's like it would be on any other defense if. If someone goes down, it's next man up. That's how football is naturally because of how violent and dangerous the sport is. You always have to have a next man up mentality. Not necessarily pressure to do as far as that. It's more so what has to be done in order for the football team to thrive. You know what I mean? It's more necessary than pressure.

GH: Why is the defense playing so well now?

JO: I keep being asked this question, and I'll say we shut up the outside noise. We have a lot of young guys on the team. And if you remember, and again, this is not law. This is not exactly what's going on. This is just my perspective on things. I think we have a lot of young guys on the team, and at the very beginning, we were playing beautiful and I think a lot of guys started reading press clippings. This is again, what I think. I think people started to read press clippings and let the outside noise seep in a little bit. It's human nature when you get that pat on the back to kind of relax, to kind of take a step back and not be as detailed and tuned in or as locked in as you would have.

But where guys have done a good job, older and younger guys have done a great job of these past few weeks, four weeks or so, it's just shutting up the outside noise and having that true, true, bunker mentality. And that comes when you're doing bad and when you're doing good. You can't listen to the people patting you on your back and trying to praise you. It's next game, next play, next step. You have to work to get better each and every day. And the moment you get complacent, you start to get lax on the details. You know how that goes. Things start to snowball.

GH: It's a long time ago, three years ago. You had a good game up there against Josh Allen. How do you guys replicate what you did up there in the playoffs and holding them to 10 points.

JO: Same formula. Same formula. You and I talk about that first third down a lot. (Ossai's pressure from the three technique forcing Allen into an incompletion and setting the tone for the game.) The reason we were able to get to that first third down is because we shut people down on first and second down. And that's how it was for the Ravens and that's how it's going to have to be for the Bills.

It's a privilege to rush the passer. To be able to get to third down and disrupt them and make them throw from the well. You've got to be disruptive on first and second down. They want to run the ball. It's in their DNA. They are the leading rushers right now. We've got to take that aspect off the table and then make them one dimensional, and the rest falls into place.

GH: You're still moving around with Trey down.

JO: I feel like Jay (D-Line coach Jerry Montgomery) does a good job of mixing it up. He also gives me a little bit of free will. Wherever I see fit, wherever I want to go, wherever I'm comfortable for the down. If I want to stay inside, if I want to stay outside, he lets me. And then he has specific plays called for me to be inside, in effect, or maybe outside in effect. It's a mix and match, for sure. It's not just one or the other.

GH: How would you say you are playing, compared to that stretch in 2022 when you were playing so well?

JO: I don't know. I haven't thought about 2022 in a very long time. We're a very different team.

That stretch was great. We were on a roll. The whole team was on a roll. We were playing for much different things back then, too. I would just say, I'm locked in on one game at a time right now, and just beating the Buffalo Bills at home and trying to put a damper on their season.

GH: We all remember the 2021 preseason opener and your spectacular debut against Tom Brady. Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you hadn't got hurt and missed your entire rookie year?

JO: All the time. All the time. But I pull myself out of that very quickly because I'm a huge believer in God. I want to say that first and foremost. And because of that, I'm a huge believer in everything happens to the children of God for a reason. So I believe that no matter how terrible it sounds, and no matter how unfortunate it was, that injury happened to me for a reason.

Maybe I wasn't ready for what was to come, and I don't know that. Only he knows that. I don't want to get preachy on you, but that's what keeps me going, and that's what helps me get away from that mindset of, oh, what could have been if I hadn't hurt my knee and I hadn't hurt the wrist and all of this and that. I might not even be in Cincinnati right now.

And I've said, and I'll say it again, Cincinnati, in more ways than I can think of, has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. Being here in Cincinnati. Who knows if I'd be in Cincinnati right now if I had that great first season and great second season and great third season, you know what I mean? Everything happens for a reason in life, and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for it. It's part of my story. It's part of my journey. It's what has shaped my career, shaped me as a pro, shaped my mentality a lot, allowed me to grow closer to my family, to God.

A lot of great things have come out of it. So I can't just say I wish I would have never gotten hurt, because who knows where I would be. Who knows what kind of man I would be today? I'm grateful for the injury. As crazy as it sounds, I'm grateful for the injury.

GH: You were bullied as a kid, right?

JO: That's crazy. When I hear someone else say that, it sounds crazy.

GH: I remember you saying you wanted to have a foundation related to that. Your family won a visa lottery and came from Nigeria and I remember you saying kids made fun of your accent.

JO: More specifically, for kids. The younger generation. And nothing's in fine print. I talk about it all the time. Everything switched for me when I started playing football and gained new friends and all of a sudden, instead of sitting alone at lunch, I was getting invited to sit at tables because I was doing well at football. If I can somehow, some way help those immigrant kids find their niche.

Whether it's sports. All kinds of sports. Football. Baseball. Basketball. Swimming. Even extra-curriculars that aren't even sports. Chess clubs. All those extra things. Just a community for that. To help those kids find their way, to help them socialize or gain friends. Gain teammates. Anyway I can to help them get ahead of the bullying, Get ahead of the curve. That would be special to me.

Nothing is finalized. A lot of things have to go into making that happen. A lot of thought has to go into it. That's the rough draft of it all. It's been put on the back-burner. That's on me. I've been going through a lot in the last four years. Things have come before that, but now I'm in my fifth year. I'm very comfortable in who I am and what I can do as a player. That's something I'll definitely start working on in the offseason.

GH: I imagine all the things you've been through are all the injuries.

JO: Yep. There was the knee, the wrist, the shoulder, the wrist again. I had to do another surgery on the wrist my third year. There was the posterior labrum and then the anterior shoulder.

GH: When you had that great run in '22, you played with a torn labrum and opted to have surgery after the season. Is this about as healthy as you've been?

JO: I was healthy last year. I'm healthy this year. God willing, that trend will keep on going. Stay healthy, work as hard as I can, and just one game at a time.

GH: Is it tough playing on a one-year deal? You lead the team with five sacks and have tied for your career high.

JO: Not really, not at all. I said it when I signed the deal. I'm going to play every year like it's the only year I have. So what does it matter to me? One-year, two- year, five,-year, four-year, I'm going to put everything I've got into this one year because you never know what game, what year is going to be your last. So playing on a one-year doesn't bother me any. The intensity is the same as it would be if I was in a four-year, five-year, so why not?

GH: Are your younger brothers still playing football?

JO: I just actually heard (Wednesday). The one right below me, my brother, Philip (defensive end), he just got a second-team All-Pro in the CFL. That was exciting news. He was a rookie there this year and had about eight, nine sacks. And he missed four games because of roster moves, so to do that in that amount of time in his first year is pretty huge and I'm extremely proud of him.

I've got Casey right now, an undrafted free agent rookie (inside linebacker, Louisiana-Lafayette). He's getting teams calling him to work out. So he's still working and chasing his goals, and I have no doubt, as soon as he gets a chance, he won't let up. He got picked up by the Texans. And, you know, the Texans linebacker group is just insane. They've got all the juice. He learned under some great guys, so he's happy to have that under his belt and have that experience. With the undrafted guys, it's a waiting game. Once you get your shot, don't let it go. So, he's training in Houston, and he's just waiting and he's ready.

GH: Amazing, You win a visa lottery and start an American football family.

JO: I tell people all the time, I'm not even supposed to be here, so I'm just excited to be here and having fun flying around. My family is still in Houston. My youngest brother just started high school. The truth is my brothers are definitely, I think, in my eyes, way better than me. And that's exactly how you want it. I like to think I started it, but they probably would have taken off on their own if I didn't play football.