Things tend to get a little chippy any time NFL division rivals meet, and that certainly was the case Sunday afternoon at Caesars Superdome.
The Week 2 matchup between the Buccaneers and the Saints saw two of the best players on the field ejected before Tampa Bay claimed a 20-10 road win. Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore ignited a sidelines-clearing brawl early in the fourth quarter, which featured plenty of pushing and shoving and even a few punches thrown.
Lattimore did not make himself available to the media after the game, but Evans opened up about the incident after the Bucs improved to 2-0 on the young season.
“We in New Orleans, you know? It gets spicy sometimes,” Evans told reporters, as seen Monday morning on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” “Got a little heated in the scuffle. Glad nobody got hurt and glad our guy responded. We’re competitive, but today he (Lattimore) was just a little too emotional. Like, you don’t throw punches at guys on the field. I think he threw a punch at Lenny (Leonard Fournette) and pushed Tom (Brady), something like that. I just can’t let that happen to my teammates, so I just shoved him and it turned into a brawl.”
The first Bucs-Saints contest of the campaign was tense well before the mosh pit. Just ask Brady, who launched both his helmet and a tablet in frustration as Tampa Bay’s offense struggled to get going.
Circle Dec. 5 on your calendars, folks. The Week 13 “Monday Night Football” matchup between these NFC South foes figures to be a doozy.
