Nick Bosa hasn't forgotten Baker Mayfield's celebration of Oklahoma's 2017 win over Ohio State.
After Mayfield's Sooners upset Bosa's Buckeyes a couple years ago in Ohio Stadium, Mayfield grabbed an Oklahoma flag, waved it and planted it in the O at midfield. Bosa and Mayfield's paths crossed again on Monday night, when the Mayfield-led Browns faced the 49ers, who drafted Bosa with the second overall pick in 2019.
After Bosa pressured Mayfield into an intentional grounding penalty late in the first half, he broke out a flag celebration of his own.
BOSA JUST PLANTED HIS FLAG IN SAN FRAN 😤 @nbsmallerbear pic.twitter.com/wsoVZVAXiX
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 8, 2019
"That was for all my Buckeye fans. ... I had to get him back for it," Bosa said after the game. "All in good fun."
Bosa continued the fun after the game.
Nick Bosa wasn't done:pic.twitter.com/1DPiy4sElh
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 8, 2019
In 2017, Oklahoma forced Mayfield to apologize shortly after his celebration. In an interview with GQ earlier this year, though, he made clear that apology was entirely empty, perhaps stoking the flames in Bosa's eyes.
I begin to ask him how heartfelt that apology actually was, on a scale of 1 to 10, but I can barely get the question out before he answers. “Zero,” he says. He repeats himself forcefully, looking me right in the eye so that I don't miss the point. “Zero. Absolutely not.”
Mayfield went on to say he believed most Ohio State fans had moved past it, given his prominence in what's expected to be a Cleveland turnaround.
Mayfield might be right about Buckeye fans, but it seems Bosa has not moved on — and an apology for this one doesn't seem likely. And considering Bosa's dominant performance — he sacked Mayfield twice and would've had another on the intentional grounding penalty, playing a large role in a 31-3 win — the oft-loquacious Mayfield probably won't have much to say, either.