The NFL suspended Bears wide receiver Javon Wims Monday for throwing punches at New Orleans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
The fight occurred early in the third quarter of the Saints win over the Bears. Wims is suspended without pay for two games.
The incident seemingly occurred out of the blue, Wims and Gardner-Johnson weren't even matched-up on the play. After the whistle, Wims walks up from behind the corner, appears to rip off his mouth guard and begin punching. Afterwards Wims said he was spit on, something Gardner-Johnson denied Monday.
"It's a lot of he said, he said. Ain't nothing happened. Nobody got spit on," he told reporters.
Still, the fight wasn't exactly unprovoked. A re-watch of the tape will show you that the two exchanged words after a play on the previous drive that led Gardner-Johnson to rip off Wims mouthpiece. Wims didn't play the rest of the drive. On the play before the fight Gardner-Johnson poked Bears receiver Anthony Miller in the cheek.
The fight isn't Gardner-Johnson's first this year. He was the teammate who scuffled with Michael Thomas in practice, which eventually led the the Saints to suspend Thomas. Asked Monday about trying to get under the skin of opposing players, Gardner-Johnson pleaded innocence.
"I ain't do nothing, I'm innocent. I play football. It's football. Guys get chippy. I don't know what to tell you," he said. "I'm not here today if I'm not me. I'm not going to change for nobody. I'm out there playing football. If it goes further than that, I don't get into that. It has nothing to do with me."
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