Before every game, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Boye Mafe closes his eyes and talks to his mother. Bola Mafe died of pancreatic cancer in 2018. He tells her he knows she is watching and that he wants to put on a show for her.

Then he signs "I love you" in American Sign Language. He does the same thing after every sack.

Mafe and his siblings learned ASL in high school, starting with his older sister Tayo. The family still uses it, even across a football field. Tayo once signed to him after he got hurt at Minnesota and he quickly signed back that it was nothing serious.

A shop that was a community hub

Mafe grew up in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. Of his six siblings, he spent the most time in his mother's seamstress shop on Lowery Avenue in North Minneapolis.

Bola did much more than mend clothes there. Her shop was a gathering place for Nigerians and many others. She volunteered at a shelter for battered women, made vests for her son's church choir and often let customers pay later.

Mafe said watching her fight cancer shaped him. "Not one day I see her cry or one day I see her down sad or [say] woe is me," he said. "She always found the light and made joy in any moment she could. I try to bring that into my life."

A fresh start in Cincinnati

Seattle drafted Mafe in the second round in 2022. He had nine sacks in 2023 but his playing time shrank over the next two seasons. He won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks before signing with Cincinnati, which needed pass rushers after losing Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai.

The move has worked. Mafe is playing a career-high 74% of the defensive snaps and shares the team lead with three sacks. Defensive coordinator Al Golden said Mafe plays with great energy and keeps getting better.

Two flags on his helmet

Mafe was born in Minnesota to Nigerian parents. Like four of his siblings, he spent eighth grade at a boarding school in Nigeria. He wears a Nigerian flag decal next to a U.S. flag on the back of his helmet.

On some game days he arrives in an agbada, the long robe worn by Yoruba men. Some are sewn from fabric that came from his mother's shop.

"It's one thing for me to say and talk to her," Mafe said, "but it's another thing for me to show."

Mafe and the Bengals visit the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.