Ravens Release Statement on Lamar Jackson, Bills Fan Incident

Lamar Jackson and a Bills fan got into a confrontation during 'Sunday Night Football' last week.
Lamar Jackson and a Bills fan got into a confrontation during 'Sunday Night Football' last week. / Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Ravens' awful loss to the Bills on Sunday Night Football last week was somewhat overshadowed this week by the much more serious incident between Lamar Jackson and a Buffalo fan during the contest.

The fan, sitting in the front row at Highmark Stadium, slapped Jackson and wideout DeAndre Hopkins on the helmet as the pair were celebrating a Baltimore touchdown in the third quarter. Jackson shoved the fan in response and said afterwards his emotions got the better of him; he later issued an apology. The fan in question was banned indefinitely from attending NFL games.

On Thursday, the Ravens issued a statement on the situation, saying the franchise was handling the matter internally.

"Our player’s safety is of the utmost importance," a team official said, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. "We have spoken to Lamar, who understands the impact of the situation, about the incident. While we will keep internal matters private, we have implemented additional security protocols – both at home and on the road – to better protect our players and handle negative fan interactions moving forward."

Jackson threw for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with 70 rushing yards and another TD on the ground in the loss. While unfortunate that the football was overshadowed by this off-field incident it seems the Ravens are ready to put it behind them.


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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.