New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore and Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette were each fined $13,367 for unnecessary roughness for their role in the brawl that took place between the two teams in Week 2, by NBC Sports. Lattimore was ejected, along with Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, at the time of the fight.
The fight seemed to start when Lattimore had something to say to Bucs quarterback Tom Brady, gesturing at him and clearly upsetting the other members of the Tampa Bay offense. Lattimore wanted a flag on Brady for yelling on what the QB believed was a missed call.
Here is an overview of what happened during the game:
Fournette pushed Lattimore, who then fought back with his own push. Evans then got involved running around and checking Lattimore’s body and things quickly escalated, with an all-out brawl between the two teams.
Evans was later suspended for one game due to his involvement. He was the only player suspended from the incident.
Brady called his wide receiver’s suspension “ridiculous,” saying, “I don’t think he deserved any type of suspension.”
The 45-year-old said emotions are part of the game and said sometimes those emotions get the better of the players. He thanked Evans for standing up for him, saying, via the Tampa Bay Times, “And having Mike come out there to stand up for me means everything to me as a teammate and a friend.”
Evans appealed the suspension, but the league upheld it, noting that Evans violated Rule 12, Section 2, Rule 8(g) which prohibits “unnecessarily running, driving, cutting or throwing the body against or on a player who is out of play or who would not have ought to have reasonably anticipated such a contract by an opponent, either before or after the ball is dead.”