Quinnen Williams expressed his love for defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton after they had a heated exchange on the sideline during the New York Jets’ 27-12 Week 3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

“I love my coach, man,” Williams said postgame. “My coach love me.”

Williams was caught on camera in the second quarter screaming at Whitecotton with the Jets trailing 14-6 at the time. The star lineman explained later that he was arguing to have the Jets go with a four-man rush against Joe Burrow after the Bengals quarterback burned them on a blitz for a 56-yard TD pass to Tyler Boyd.

“We don’t need all this blitzing and stuff,” Williams explained. “Let’s put it on our (the defensive line’s) back.”

Things improved a bit defensively after the heated exchange, which Williams called a “loud conversation.” The Jets fell behind 20-9 at the half but limited Burrow in the second half. They finished with two sacks, including one by Williams.

The Jets have managed five sacks in the first three games this season, never more than two in a game. They hoped their pass rush would break out this week against the Bengals, who allowed an NFL-worst 13 sacks in the first two weeks. That didn’t happen.

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In fact, Burrow proved to be elusive scrambling out of the pocket several times to extend passing plays. Defensive end Carl Lawson did have three QB hits but did not record a sack.

“I was disappointed allowing him to get out of the pocket when he did,” coach Robert Saleh said. “We were surrounding him … those are the ones we’ve got to finish.”

The Jets fell to 1-2 with the loss. Their next chance to get the pass rush going is next Sunday when they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers.