Pittsburgh defensive back Jalen Ramsey said Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase spit on him, leading the Steelers player to take a swing at the Bengals star wide receiver during their game Sunday.
Ramsey was ejected for throwing the punch, which came with about 13 minutes remaining in the host Steelers’ 34-12 victory.
“He spit on me,” Ramsey, 31, said after the game, noting he was OK with trash talk between the two, but Chase crossed the line.
“I actually enjoy that part (talking) of the game. I think that people know that,” Ramsey said. “I’m sure the NFL, they’ll do their due diligence. They’ve got 100 cameras out there. They can investigate. They can see everything. … They should be able to pull it up and see that he spit and it’s whatever after that, to be honest. I was still a little too nice, if I’m keeping it honest with you.”
Chase, 25, denied Ramsey’s version of the incident.
“I ain’t ever opened my mouth to that guy,” Chase said after the game. “I didn’t spit on nobody.”
As for what led to Ramsey trying to punch him, Chase said, “Well, he don’t like some of the words I told him. We’ve been going back and forth the whole time. So I’m sure something got under his skin.”
The veteran players had been going at each other verbally over the course of the game and both were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct one play earlier when Ramsey said Chase attempted to crackback block him.
Ramsey called the first incident “just a little scuffle” when Chase grabbed his mouthpiece off his face mask and he pushed Chase’s face mask. The pair were warned by officials that a similar penalty would lead to ejection.
“We had just talked to the refs,” Ramsey said afterward. “I ain’t going to do something again to get myself kicked out of the game. The refs had just told us a play before. If you just use your common sense, you’ll know, hey he wasn’t just doing it again for no reason. You know what I mean?”
But then, during a timeout before the next play, the situation escalated with the alleged spitting incident. Ramsey swung at Chase’s helmet and grabbed his face mask. They were separated by players from both teams and assessed offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties, with Ramsey automatically disqualified for the punch.
Referee Bill Vinovich told a pool reporter that officials did not see Chase spit at Ramsey.
“Obviously, we did not,” Vinovich said. “We did not see anything that rose to that level at all.”
Ramsey, primarily a cornerback in his 10-year career, is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time first-team All-Pro. Chase is a four-time Pro Bowl pick in his fifth season. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2024.
