Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase suspended 1 game for spitting at Steelers CB Jalen Ramsey
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja'Marr Chase has been suspended for one week 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." He is set to miss Cincinnati's Week 12 game against the New England Patriots, though he can appeal the ruling.
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In the fourth quarter of the Steelers' 34-12 win, Ramsey and Chase got into it. Chase spit on Ramsey, and Ramsey punched him in retaliation. Both players were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Field-level view of the second altercation between Ja'Marr Chase and Jalen Ramsey. Chase said "I didn't spit on nobody."
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The video clearly shows he did.#Bengals@FOX19pic.twitter.com/ooGzInoPdS
While Ramsey was ejected, Chase remained in the game because officials missed the spitting incident, as referee Bill Vinovich told pool reporter Brian Batko.
"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."
An NFL spokesman said after the game that the league was looking into the incident.
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.