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Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans will miss their Week 3 showdown with the Green Bay Packers after his one-game suspension was confirmed for pushing Marshon Lattimore out of New Orleans Saints.
The wide receiver was suspended by the league on Monday for his role in an on-field brawl, most notably a push on Marshon Lattimore, during Sunday’s 20-10 win over the Saints in New Orleans.
Evans appealed the penalty for the fiery clash during the Bucs victory, and the appeal was heard Tuesday by James Thrash, who was appointed jointly by the NFL and the NFLPA.
Thrash heard back Evans’ previous appeal when he was suspended for another on-field altercation with Lattimore in 2017 and also upheld that verdict.
Evans’ agent Deryk Gilmore described the one-match suspension as “unfortunate after it was enforced, claiming that players had avoided punishment for worse actions in the past, but insisted that he and his player respect the decision.”
In a statement, Gilmore said: “We are disappointed that the league is upholding a suspension when there are various arguments from players committing more serious offences, including: punching, kicking and strangling players and not being suspended.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans will miss the Week 3 showdown with the Green Bay Packers
The incident when Saints defending defender Marshon Lattimore started chewing on Bucs’ Tom Brady
Evans bowls over Lattimore to start the bench-clearing brawl during Sunday’s game
“In addition, Evans had already been sent off, which is punishment enough, but the league chose to discipline him even more.
“This is unfortunate, but we will respect the decision of the competition.”
However, despite missing a crucial clash against the Packers, the suspension will not be as costly for Evans as it could have been.
Evans restructured his contract during the off-season, reducing his base salary to a minimum of $1.12 million in the league for 2022, according to Adam Schefter.
The suspension of one game this week will reportedly cost Evans $62,222 instead of the $715,000 it would have had had he not restructured.
Evans’ agent Deryk Gilmore claimed being kicked out was ‘punishment enough’
Marcus Maye (right) and Evans (almost right) got caught up in Lattimore and others in the fight
Evans was suspended after he rushed and threw Saints corner Lattimore when the Saints rival spouted nonsense with Tom Brady.
Officially, Evans violated Rule 12, Section 2, Rule 8(g), which prohibits “unnecessarily running, diving into, cutting or throwing the body at or at a player who is out of play or should not reasonably have anticipated such contact by an opponent, before or after the ball is dead.’
He also violated Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1, which prohibits any act “contrary to generally accepted principles of sportsmanship.”
In a letter to Evans, NFL Vice President of Football Operations, Jon Runyan wrote, “After a play was over, you walked to your sidelines. When you noticed your teammates confronting the Saints players, you ran to that area on the field and forcibly threw your body into it and hit an unsuspecting opponent who was part of that confrontation.
The confrontation led to the benches running onto the pitch, resulting in a pushing match
“You knocked your opponent to the ground and it created a melee involving players from both teams,” continued Runyan, a former NFL offensive lineman. “Your aggressive behavior could have seriously injured your opponent and clearly does not reflect the high sportsmanship standards expected of a professional.”
Evans had previously insisted that he would not face a penalty as he suggested in the dressing room after the incident that things should stay on the pitch.
“It gets tough when you come to New Orleans,” Evans told the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s a good team, a physical team.
Mike Evans told reporters afterwards that he should not be banned for hitting Lattimore
‘All I see is Lattimore hitting Lee’ [Fournette] in the face or something and then pushed Tom.
‘That’s all I saw. I just pushed it.’
Evans has a history with Lattimore, having previously received a one-match suspension for a goal in 2017.
“In 2017 I wasn’t even kicked out, and that was a really cheap opportunity,” Evans said. “It wasn’t this. He punched my teammate in the face and I just pushed him to the ground.”