Wide receiver Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had attacked opponent Marshon Lattimore of the New Orleans Saints during his team’s 10:30 defeat in Week 9, creating a pack formation. However, Evans hadn’t been knocked out of the game for the hard attack. For Saints coach Sean Payton, that’s an absurdity.
The Saints had the game under control for the entire duration of the game, while Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston had to leave the game at halftime due to his damaged shoulder. When Lattimore was battling with the guests’ players on the sidelines, Winston joined in and touched Lattimore with his finger on the helmet. He turned around and gave Winston a nudge.
Suddenly Evans stormed up and plunged into Lattimore. Then he fell over him and struck him several times. Coaches and players quickly joined in and separated the taps, Evans was punished with a personal foul and 15 yards of lost space.
However, his attack did not lead to an injection. And that’s something Saints coach Sean Payton couldn’t understand:”If that doesn’t lead to a knockout in this situation, I don’t know when it’s appropriate at all,”Payton said after the match.
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter explained that he hadn’t seen the scene. Evans later spoke only about the poor performance of his team:”We are very bad. We’re at 2-6, that’s a bad one. We’re too talented for that, actually.”