Reports that C.J. Gardner-Johnson spat on Javon Wims during the game, causing the punch and the subsequent altercation on the field, have been refuted; After the incident in the third quarter on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints won 26–23.
Wide receiver Javon Wims of thet Chicago Bears will miss two games due to his sucker punch on defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson of the New Orleans Saints.
Wims has the right to appeal the decision, but his unsportsmanlike behavior suspension is unpaid and will keep him out of the lineup until Week 12 against Green Bay.
The claim that Gardner-Johnson spat on Wims during the game, causing the punch and the subsequent brawl to break out on the field, was refuted on Monday.
Gardner-Johnson wasn’t guarding him during the play, so Wims ran over to him and struck him twice in the facemask and helmet during the third quarter of the Saints’ 26-23 overtime victory. The Bears receiver was dismissed during a brawl that started.
According to a Monday NFL Network story, Wims informed the coaches in Chicago that Gardner-Johnson had not only ripped out his mouthpiece but also spit on him.
Michael Thomas, a teammate of Gardner-Johnson’s who got hit during practice and missed the team’s game in Week 5, refuted the report.
“That has nothing to do with me at all. It’s his fault if he’s acting out, Gardner-Johnson told reporters. “There was an incident. He talked a lot, he said a lot. Nothing happened, at all. No one was spit upon.”
Wims’ actions after the game infuriated Bears coach Matt Nagy, who stated, “I am really, really bothered by that third-quarter incident.” On Monday, Nagy followed up to say he had spoken with Wims.
“Out of respect, I’m going to keep that between us and internally, but we did talk to him, and regardless of what went on, he was apologetic and knows that no matter what, you can’t do what he did,” Nagy stated.
Wims, 26, is a third-season Chicago player. In eight games this season, the seventh-round selection from 2018 has hauled in five passes for 35 yards and one touchdown.
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson has a talent for making people feel uncomfortable, as we have discovered. Though it wasn’t quite as brutal as Gervonta Davis’s knockout blow against Leo Santa Cruz on Saturday night, Javon Wims gave the Saints safety two right hands before chaos ensued.
That Chauncey Gardner-Johnson who was earlier in the season punched by Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas during practice. After Gardner-Johnson poked Anthony Miller in the eye, Wims reacted by leaving what might have been his last game for a while.
