Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin broke his silence on the controversial moment defensive back Jalen Ramsey lived with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. On Sunday, Ramsey was ejected from the game after he punched Chase in the face.
Initially, the reason behind the punch was unknown until Ramsey accused Chase of spitting on him before he got physical with the Bengals star.
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On Tuesday, reporters asked Tomlin if he had a piece of advice for his players in case something like that happened again. The coach had a short, yet clear message about how he thinks somebody should react in that situation.
“I have no message if someone spits in your face,” Tomlin said before making a brief pause. “Do what comes natural.”
Before Ramsey’s ejection, he and Chase had received unsportsmanlike penalties. After a brief exchange that resulted in the spitting and the punches, Ramsey blamed Chase for escalating the situation.
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“He spit on me,” Ramsey said postgame, via ESPN. “I don’t give a f* about football after that, respectfully. I’m always going to be all for trash talking, s* talking, things like that. I actually enjoy that part of the game. I think that people know that. … We were talking s, which I’m cool with. And then as soon as he spit, it was f that. … I’m sure the NFL, they’ll do their due diligence.
“They’ve got 100 cameras out there. They can investigate. They can see everything. … They should be able to pull it up and see that he spit and it’s whatever after that, to be honest. I was still a little too nice if I’m keeping it honest with you.”
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The NFL suspended Chase for one game on Monday. He will have the chance to appeal the decision with hearing officer Jordy Nelson on Tuesday. If the decision stands, he will lose $448,333 for not playing the Bengals’ next game against the New England Patriots.
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