AFC North matchups will always be known as tough, physical battles. And it’s not anything new to see divisional games get chippy. On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals took it to another level, with Jalen Ramsey and Ja’Marr Chase getting into it.
There was a sequence in which the two started fighting after every play, and it ended with a bigger fight in which Chase lost his helmet. Ramsey was ejected for punching Chase in the helmet since it was his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game.
Speaking after the Steelers’ 34-12 win, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor credited Chase for keeping his cool, as he sees it.
“These guys are in emotional matchups,” Taylor said via the Bengals’ twitter account. “We all know that. There’s a lot at stake for teams, there’s a lot at stake for these individuals. It’s competitive. When you got great players going against great players, it’s gonna be emotional at times. Ja’Marr’s always done an excellent job of controlling what he can control. So I respect that about him.”
This is the moment in question.
Taylor is not wrong that Chase doesn’t retaliate after Ramsey grabs a hold of his facemask and punches him. However, it’s not as if Chase wasn’t an aggressor. A few plays before, Chase got his hands all over Ramsey’s facemask in the scuffle that led to unsportsmanlike penalties on both of them.
And according to Jalen Ramsey, the reason he lost his cool with Chase is because the Bengals receiver spit on him. It’s certainly not easy to see on the replay. And while it’s not conclusive, it does look like Chase spit on Ramsey in this close up.
After the game, Chase claimed he didn’t spit on Ramsey. However, a few Steelers defenders, including Joey Porter Jr. and Nick Herbig, have corroborated Ramsey’s story. Unless a clearer view or any possible punishment from the NFL come to light, it’s a case of he said, he said.
Mike Tomlin didn’t criticize Ramsey heavily after the game. Although he did mention that the Steelers have to be smarter there. It was a tough time to lose Ramsey, considering the circumstances. The game wasn’t out of reach yet, and the Steelers already were missing Darius Slay while Brandin Echols dealt with in-game injuries as well.
The Steelers will wait to see if any suspension is coming for Ramsey. If the league determines Chase did spit on him, there could be some punishment for him as well.
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