BEREA (AP) — Surprisingly, Terrelle Pryor didn’t disagree with Adam Jones’ heated outburst about him.
He’s got an argument with the media, though.
Following Cincinnati’s win over Cleveland on Sunday, Jones, the Bengals’ chatty cornerback, tore into Pryor, calling him “garbage” several times .
At one point, Jones grabbed a trash can inside the locker room and called out Pryor’s name to see if he was inside the bin. Pryor made only catch for 3 yards in the 23-10 loss.
“He’s right,” Pryor said. “I was garbage. One catch, 3 yards. It was an accurate statement.”
But while Pryor seems to have moved on from Jones, his new beef seems to be with how he’s being covered.
On Wednesday, Pryor, who didn’t talk after the game and declined an interview request Monday, chastised reporters for saying he got into an on-field argument during the game with Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III. As the Browns were driving for their only touchdown, Pryor and Griffin had an exchange as Cleveland was forced to call a timeout.
Griffin explained that Pryor wanted to run a play that was called and the Browns had to use a timeout because the play clock was winding down.
Pryor contends he and Griffin were not fighting.
“You guys can’t assume, because me and Rob wasn’t arguing,” he said. “I go and read in the articles you guys are saying that I am arguing with my teammate. That’s trying to break up this team and all we’re trying to do is come in here and fight for a win.
“I come in here and talk to you guys face to face. I’m very honest with you guys, have fun with you guys, and then you guys paint a picture about me to be a bad person.
“And try to put some type of stigma between me and my teammates. So I appreciate if you guys would stop assuming and get the actual story before you write something.”
Pryor’s temper has been an issue before, prompting coach Hue Jackson to address it with the 27-year-old former quarterback.
Jackson wants Pryor to channel his emotions in a positive direction.
“Terrelle understands,” he said. “We have common ground. I support Terrelle 100 percent, but there are certain things that he knows I want our players to emulate. It is not that. We will move from there and grow from it.
“Terrelle’s passion is one to win. It does not come from a bad place. He is not a belligerent man or anything like that. I just think sometimes that energy gets directed the wrong way and energy needs to stay on the field and do what we need him to do to be successful.”
Pryor, who can become a free agent in March, maintains he’s a team player and that his passion drives him.
“You can ask all of my teammates, I’m not a guy that causes any beef or drama on the team,” he said. “That’s not me. Am I on the sidelines fiery, am I in the game fiery, absolutely. I wouldn’t think that the fans or my coaches or anyone else would want me to not play that way any other time.
“And if I play any other way and just shut up and didn’t do anything, I don’t think I’d play as well, so I’m just continuing to try to get better.
“I’ve got to get better and that’s all I’m looking forward to.”