Bills general manager Brandon Beane said there may have been a misunderstanding during an on-field exchange that led to Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue accusing Buffalo guard Richie Incognito of using ”weak racist slurs.”

Beane said the Bills have spoken to Incognito and understand their player’s side of the story of the alleged exchange that occurred during Buffalo’s 10-3 loss to the Jaguars in an AFC wild-card playoff game on Sunday. Beane confirmed some type of exchange happened but declined to get into details.

He added during the team’s end-of-season news conference on Tuesday that the Bills take the allegation ”very seriously Sean Monahan Jersey ,” and are cooperating with the league’s investigation. Beane also said Incognito has attempted to contact Ngakoue.

”There was definitely an exchange. I think there’s a misunderstanding of what was said,” Beane said. ”We’re still gathering the facts. So until we really know what happened from all sides of the story, that’s kind of where it’s at.”

Ngakoue declined to reveal exactly what Incognito said since making his allegation in a tweet sent a few hours after the game. Ngakoue said Monday that Incognito knows what he said and there is no point repeating it.

”I’ve been playing this game since I was a little kid,” Ngakoue said. ”You hear all type of stuff. Stuff’s not going to bother you, but somebody says something about your ethnicity, that’s really kind of taking it a little bit too far. I’m all with trash talk. It’s part of the game, but you can’t say certain things.”

Incognito has not responded to the accusations. The 11-year veteran was not present in the locker room during Buffalo’s hour-long media availability Monday, and did not respond to a text message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell said several Buffalo players were talking trash during the game Ryan Strome Jersey , especially in the second half. But the 10th-year pro said he never heard anything inappropriate.

”I think they were really trying to get us to lose our cool and try to get penalties,” Campbell said.

”I understand trying to give yourself an advantage, and you see somebody trying to egg them on to try to get a penalty, I understand that,” Campbell added. ”But there are boundaries. You don’t go to racial slurs; that’s not OK.”

Informed of Campbell’s comments, Bills coach Sean McDermott said: ”You know what, they won the game and the whole situation to me is very unfortunate and I’ll just leave it at that.”

—

AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida Adam Larsson Jersey , contributed to this report.

—


Four times under coach Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh Penguins have gone into an elimination game in the playoffs. They have won each en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

On Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the Washington Capitals will try to end the Penguins’ run with a win in Game 6 of a second-round series. Washington, after winning 6-3 in Game 5, leads the series 3-2 and can advance to the Eastern Conference final with a win.

The Capitals are 1-9 all time in postseason series against Pittsburgh, with two of the losses coming the past two years, so they have a sense of needing to get past the Penguins’ roadblock.

“It’s not over yet,” Capitals winger Brett Connolly said. “They’re a good team. We know that. (Game 5 Saturday was) obviously a big win. We just need to find a way this year. We need to find a way to get that last win no matter what it takes.”

The Penguins will need to win not only Monday but also Wednesday in a potential Game 7 at Washington if they are to have a chance to win a third Cup in a row.

Even with that cushion Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , the Capitals are taking a conservative approach.

“I can tell you how I feel if there’s four wins,” goaltender Braden Holtby said. “Where it’s at right now doesn’t matter at all. All that matters is the next game. That’s got to be our mindset if we want to have success and take a mature approach to it.”

Pittsburgh can draw on those four elimination games it won in its recent Cup runs for experience. One of those games was a 2-0 victory in Game 7 against Washington last year, also in the second round.

“We’ve done it before,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. “We know we’ve got it in this group. We’re going back home. We’ve been good at home all year. We win one game there, come back (to Washington) and play a Game 7. That’s nothing new to us, nothing we’re afraid of. We’ve just got to bring our best effort again in Game 6.”

Sullivan said the Penguins have another intangible.

“It comes down to character and the people we have in our dressing room,” he said.

Washington’s win in Game 5 might have had a couple of caveats, possible injuries to defenseman John Carlson and center Nicklas Backstrom Brock McGinn Jersey Kids , although coach Barry Trotz said both were expected to travel to Pittsburgh and should be available.

The Capitals already are without wingers Andre Burakovsky (injury) and Tom Wilson (suspension). Wilson would be eligible to return for a Game 7.

Pittsburgh came away from its loss Saturday — in which Washington scored two empty-net goals — feeling pretty good about everything but the final score.

“I liked our effort,” winger Patric Hornqvist said. “I liked our attitude and all that. We just have to clean up our mistakes, and we’ll be fine.”

That is a popular belief among the Penguins.

“Everybody understands the situation,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “It brings out everyone’s best. You don’t have anything to save it for, so you go out there with one focus, and that’s win a hockey game and get to a Game 7. That’s our mindset here.

“We have a lot of good things to build off. We just need to make sure we keep going, keep playing the same way.”

Authentic Denver Broncos Jerseys