NEW ORLEANS, La. — New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore and Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans were ejected from Sunday’s game for fighting.
Evans and Lattimore were in the center of a bench-clearing brawl that occurred in the fourth quarter of a game at the Caesar’s Superdome.
This isn’t the first time these two players have gotten into it. Lattimore and Evans have a long history of notable dislike for each other, beginning in 2017 when Evans came running onto the field and shoved Lattimore in the back. Evans was suspended one game for the incident.
Lattimore shoved Evans in the back during a game in 2020 and Evans knocked Lattimore’s helmet off, which resulted in a $10,500 unnecessary roughness fine for Lattimore.
The Bucs were preparing to punt after Brady’s deep pass to Scotty Miller on 3rd-and-five fell incomplete with 12:55 left in the fourth quarter. Lattimore was covering Miller on the play, and appeared to wave his arm at Brady in a dismissive manner as Brady walked by him after the play, gesturing at someone.
Brady turned to look at Lattimore and started to approach him as Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette ran over to shove Lattimore. Lattimore shoved Fournette back as both Saints safety Marcus Maye and Evans got involved.
Evans appeared to initially be walking back to the sideline before turning around and running onto the field, giving Lattimore a hard shove that knocked him to the ground. Maye then went after Evans as Lattimore got up to approach Evans again.
Maye and Evans hit the ground together and flags were thrown as other players ran to join the fray. Lattimore ended up on the ground under both Evans and Maye. As the brawl escalated, Lattimore stood up, with several players still on the ground, yelling as teammates tried to pull him back.
After the brawl was over, Saints defensive end and team captain Cameron Jordan walked Lattimore off the field with an arm around his shoulder. Lattimore returned to the sideline to talk to co-defensive coordinator Kris Richard, while linebacker Demario Davis, another team captain, also came over to talk to him as well.
Lattimore and Evans were both ejected after a quick discussion by officials. As Evans left the field, he appeared to shove a cameraman and gave his gloves to two fans as he left.
The Buccaneers discussed the need to keep their emotions in check this week against the Saints. Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has been shown throwing a tablet on the sidelines in the last two games between the teams. The Buccaneers did not win a regular-season game against the Saints in 2019 or 2020.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine contributed to this report.
Source : ESPN
