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Defensive lineman\u00a0Cameron Heyward\u00a0moved into second place on the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0all-time games played list Sunday. With that longevity, Heyward is clearly one of the top leaders in the team\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n
That means when Heyward speaks, his teammates and the rest of the\u00a0NFL\u00a0do a lot of listening.<\/p>\n
Following Week 11, the All-Pro defensive lineman had some rather negative things to say about\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0wide receiver\u00a0Ja\u2019Marr Chase.<\/p>\n
Heyward suggested to the media the Bengals wideout didn\u2019t deserve to be in the NFL because of his Week 11 spitting incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo competitors, but one guy took it too far,\u201d Heyward said of Chase and Steelers defensive back\u00a0Jalen Ramsey,\u00a0via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. \u201cOur guy got penalized, but if you wanna spit on a guy, you don\u2019t belong in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jalen Ramsey\u00a0told reporters that\u00a0Chase spit on him during the fourth quarter of the Steelers-Bengals matchup. In response, Ramsey punched Chase, which resulted in an ejection for the defensive back. It wasn\u2019t until after the game was the reasoning behind Ramsey\u2019s punch revealed.<\/p>\n
Chase denied spitting on Ramsey when he spoke to reporters following the game. However, video from\u00a0Fox 19 sports photographer Austin Briski\u00a0showed Chase clearly spat at Ramsey just before the defensive back took a swing at him.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no situation where it\u2019s acceptable to throw a punch at another player in the NFL. Punches thrown will always result in an ejection, which puts one\u2019s team at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Ramsey could face further disciplinary action through a suspension. Other defenders around the league such as\u00a0Brian Branch\u00a0and\u00a0Daron Payne served one-game suspensions after throwing a punch.<\/p>\n
But Heyward essentially argued Ramsey\u2019s reaction was understandable given the circumstances with Chase. The Steelers defensive tackle made that argument while seemingly delivering a plea to the league to also punish the Bengals receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully the NFL handles it,\u201d Heyward said,\u00a0via Steelers Depot\u2019s Alex Kozora. \u201cWe all tried to calm [Ramsey] down, but if a man spits at you, that\u2019s a different reaction than you should ever have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he talked to reporters after the Week 11 showdown, the Bengals receiver tried to put to rest any idea of him spitting at Ramsey. But Briski\u2019s video caught what Chase did.<\/p>\n
\u201cField-level view of the second altercation between\u00a0Ja\u2019Marr Chase\u00a0and Jalen Ramsey,\u201d Briski posted on X as a caption to his video. \u201cChase said, \u2018I didn\u2019t spit on nobody.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe video clearly shows he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video is circulating around the sports media world. ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter reported Sunday evening that an NFL spokesman told him the league \u201cwill be reviewing the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter didn\u2019t receive a suspension from the league for spitting on Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in Week 1. However, the incident happened before the first snap of the game, and Carter received an ejection for spitting.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the league considered Carter\u2019s ejection as a one-game suspension. Carter also received a $57,222 fine.<\/p>\n
Chase wasn\u2019t ejected for spitting at Ramsey.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Obviously, we did not. We did not see anything that rose to that level at all,\u201d referee Bill Vinovich told reporters after the contest, via New York Post\u2019s Christian Arnold.<\/p>\n
Mike Johnson parlayed a 661-game NHL career that included stops with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, and St. Louis Blues into a broadcasting career with TSN.<\/p>\n
Johnson has been the color commentator for numerous NHL and IIHF broadcasts, but recently, he has been the primary commentator for the Maple Leafs’ regional TSN broadcasts. Unsurprisingly, given his ties to so many Atlantic Division rivals, Johnson doesn’t have too many good things to say about the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n
That continued on a recent NHL Network hit, where he dropped the take that\u00a0two-time Stanley Cup Champion and 1000-point getter Brad Marchand doesn’t have a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. While criticizing the Bruins on the Maple Leafs broadcasts makes sense as the regional guy, taking such a bizarre stance about Marchand’s Hall of Fame status is a bridge too far.<\/p>\n
Winning two Stanley Cups, recording 1000 points, winning 2 World Junior Gold Medals, scoring the championship-winning goal in the 2016 World Cup, and playing an essential role on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team when many said he shouldn’t have made it, isn’t enough of a resume for Johnson. Neither was scoring two goals in the Game 7 clincher in 2011 or recording 20 points in 23 games for the Florida Panthers’ run last postseason.<\/p>\n
Instead, Johnson believes that players like Keith Tkachuk and Curtis Joseph should be in the Hall over Marchand. Tkachuk, whose trophy case includes one Maurice Richard Trophy and a silver medal with Team USA, and Joseph, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist on a couple of occasions, and had a front-row seat to Martin Brodeur winning him an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002. Coincidentally, both were also former teammates of the non-biased Mike Johnson.<\/p>\n
Johnson finished his explanation by saying that today he wouldn’t put Marchand in the Hall of Fame, but talk to him in three years and it’ll be a yes. My question would be what else could Marchand possibly achieve to make him worthy in Johnson’s eyes? An Olympic Gold Medal is one of the only things missing from the trophy case, which he might get a chance to win in a few months.<\/p>\n
If Johnson was attempting to generate some clickbait from this take, it worked, but sometimes a biased take has to come under scrutiny. The good news is that his fans in Toronto will love the take after years of watching the man who doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame\u00a0dominate their team\u00a0in the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defensive lineman\u00a0Cameron Heyward\u00a0moved into second place on the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0all-time games played list Sunday. With that longevity, Heyward is clearly one of the top leaders in the team\u2019s locker room. That means when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t