Former Clemson DL DJ Reader Extremely Confident In Bengals Defense

Former Clemson Tiger DJ Reader took the Bengals loss to the Rams in the Super Bowl pretty hard.

It takes DJ Reader a little time to get over a loss, any loss.

Although, the former Clemson DT needed a little extra time to get over the Bengals' 23-20 loss to the Rams in Super Bowl LVI, considering it was the Cincinnati defense that gave up the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

"I take losses pretty hard, especially when you get that close," Reader told members of the media recently. "I didn't really talk to that many people."

Reader didn't even talk to his own mother for close to a week. 

"My mom knows how I am," he said. "I didn't talk to my agent for a while. I didn't talk to my mom for about a week."

"She doesn't even try to talk to me after stuff like that. We are very similar. We don't talk to each other after losses. (We) always talk about leaving it all out on the field. That's something her and my dad always preached to me since I was a kid, just demeanor, how you play the game. If you leave it all out on the field you don't have anything to be ashamed of. You are a natural competitor, you are going to be pissed, but don't be ashamed."

However, the loss is now in the past, and Reader isn't dwelling on it.

"You always feel like yourself you could have done more but if you go back and scan over the game you can't say oh this play killed us or this play killed us," Reader said. "It was a good game. It was a good game we didn't come out on top."

It is the coming season that is now on Reader's mind. Despite fielding a Top-10 defense a season ago, Reader feels like the unit might not be getting some of the credit it deserves, not that it really bothers him. 

In fact, Reader said he actually kind of prefers it that way, and wouldn't mind if some teams are overlooking the Bengals next season. 

"We know we're good, we know how we feel about each other," Reader said. "The guys love one another," Reader said. "The guys want to fly around. We're going to make plays, and I don't really care if anybody on the outside notices. I'd rather them not and then roll into Cincinnati into Paul Brown on Sundays and get thumped in the mouth."

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