He was flagged for a false start on the ninth offensive play of the afternoon and was not penalized again the rest of the way.
“Getting those first two series out of the way [was all it took],” Darrisaw said. “After my false start, I’m like, ‘All right, here we are locked in, back on the field with my brothers.’ Man, it felt great to go against a different defense in a live [game]. Actually, it was amazing. It was really fun.”
That Bengals defense included four-time Pro Bowler Trey Hendrickson, who logged just a single tackle and no sacks Sunday.
“Being able to go out there and play against the rushers they have, playing against Trey — I got a lot of respect for him, he’s one of the best in the game — but just to go out there and get that result we got as a team, it felt amazing,” Darrisaw said.
Following the win, O’Connell handed out game balls to members of the offense, defense and special teams who especially shined. And though it’s not typically something you can plan ahead of time, he noted he’d had a ball with Darrisaw’s name on it prior to kickoff.
“Regardless of what transpired today, I had this waiting for this player,” O’Connell said. “It’s been a long time coming, but nobody’s had a journey over the last 10-and-a-half, 11 months like this guy. And the look in his eye all week long in practice told me everything was going to be all right. And not only all right — 71 came back and set the tone for our whole offense.”