This isn’t going away. NBC Sports’ Mike Florio first reported Sunday evening that suspensions could be coming for the players involved in Week 2’s brawl between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints, in which Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette and quarterback Tom Brady were jawing with Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore after a critical late-game stop on fourth down.
Some pushing and shoving started up, then Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans threw Lattimore to the ground, and the benches cleared. NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson called in from the league office in New York and ordered Lattimore and Evans both be ejected, though he chose to let the instigator, Fournette, remain in the game. Afterwards Anderson told Nola.com’s Luke Johnson that “We just did not feel like those actions rose to the level of disqualification.”
Now Florio is reporting that the league is “reviewing all aspects” of the fracas in deciding who should be subject to league discipline, including fines and suspensions. And that isn’t just limited to the players who traded blows (Evans and Lattimore). It includes Fournette’s role as an instigator and the bizarre presence of former Bucs coach Bruce Arians on the sideline.
Arians was seen shouting at players and officials on the field throughout the game and especially in the moments that led up to this fight, but it’s unclear why he was around in the first place. After stepping down as the team’s head coach earlier this year he was kept around in an executive role with the title of “senior adviser to the general manager,” which still doesn’t carry any specific job descriptions. In any case, he played a part in starting this brawl, and he may be subject to league discipline, too.
What a mess. If Evans ran better routes he wouldn’t be beaten so often by Lattimore’s coverage, and then he wouldn’t get so frustrated and start fights like this. Unfortunately, Evans has a history of losing his cool in this matchup and trying to even the score with his paws instead. He may feel confident he won’t see a suspension after starting another fight (he missed one game after a similar incident in 2017), but maybe he should feel some level of concern.
As for Lattimore: it would be baffling to see him suspended, too, but “baffling” is actually a great descriptor for the league’s disciplinary process. They threw him out of the game in the first place despite him being the victim of Evans’ escalation, so there’s a real chance they botch the follow-up, too. Stay tuned for updates on this front.
