“I’d rather have guys I got to cool off and just, you know, he wants to win and I can live with that versus, I’ve been around people that I ask, are they just here for the Monday paycheck,” Beane said Tuesday at his season-ending news conference. “Stefon Diggs has been paid very handsomely, OK? He could say, ‘Man I’m good, I’m set. I can take my private jet, so I can do whatever I want.’ He wants to win and so he wears his emotions on his sleeve, but that’s what makes him really, really good. That’s who Steph was coming out.
“I’m an emotional guy too and if I was losing out there, sometimes I probably think I’d be worse than Steph so does that answer it?”
During the waning moments of the Bills’ loss Sunday, Diggs was visibly upset on the sideline. He could be seen with his arms outstretched and talking to – or at – quarterback Josh Allen, who was on the bench and did not appear to look up.
Diggs did not speak to the media following the game or during Monday’s customary locker-room cleanout availability. He broke his silence on social media Monday with a string of tweets.
“Want me to be okay with losing? Nah,” Diggs began. “Want me to be okay with our level of play when it’s not up to the standard? Nah.
“It’s easy to criticize my reaction more than the result.”
Diggs had just four catches Sunday on a game-high 10 targets for 35 yards. Those numbers followed his third straight Pro Bowl campaign in Buffalo, in which he had 108 receptions for 1,429 yards and 11 touchdowns.
While Diggs hasn’t spoken to reporters yet, Beane backed him Tuesday, just as head coach Sean McDermott did on Monday.
“Steph’s a highly competitive individual, as we all know, and that’s part of the reason why we all love him,” McDermott said, via ESPN. “And he’s frustrated, like we all are. He was in today, and he and I spoke, and I’ll leave it at that.”