Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase has been suspended for one game without pay after spitting on Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey during Sunday’s game, the NFL announced Monday.
The league announced that Chase was suspended for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” Chase appealed that ruling, but it was upheld on Tuesday night. That means that Chase will miss the team’s Week 12 matchup with the New England Patriots.
In the fourth quarter of the Steelers’ 34-12 win on Sunday, Ramsey and Chase got into it. Chase spit on Ramsey, and Ramsey punched him in retaliation. Both players were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
While Ramsey was ejected, Chase remained in the game because officials missed the spitting incident, as referee Bill Vinovich told pool reporter Brian Batko.
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“No. Obviously we did not,” Vinovich said. “We did not see anything that rose to that level at all.”
Ramsey said afterward that he was fine with the back-and-forth trash talking, but Chase spitting at him crossed a line.
“He spit on me,” Ramsey said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “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.”
After the game, Chase denied he spit at Ramsey saying, “I ain’t ever opened my mouth to that guy. I didn’t spit on nobody.”
When asked what he believed led to Ramsey’s reaction, Chase said: “Well he don’t like some of the words I told him. We’ve been going back and forth the whole time. So I’m sure something got under his skin.”
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An NFL spokesman said after the game that the league was looking into the incident.
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It was reported early Monday that the NFL would make a ruling on the issue before the day ended. With his status up in the air, Chase declined to speak with reporters Monday.
As he appealed the ruling, it was possible that the receiver pointed to the situation with Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter, who was ejected from the Eagles’ first game of the season after spitting on Dak Prescott before the game’s first play from scrimmage. (Video indicated that Prescott had spat near Carter first, sparking the incident.)
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Carter was still punished by the league with a $57,222 fine, the equivalent of one game check, with his ejection serving as a one-game suspension. Carter did not appeal the fine or the suspension. But Chase’s situation is different than Carter’s, largely because he was not ejected from the game. And Chase’s suspension was upheld.
In a year when the league has been cracking down on unsportsmanlike conduct, Chase will now have to watch his team’s next game from home.
