On the Ravens’ first drive of the game, things got heated in the Rams’ huddle. Marquise Brown caught a pass over the middle that went for 13 yards and a first down, and before the next play, Jalen Ramsey smacked Taylor Rapp in the helmet during a heated exchange between the two defenders.
It was shocking to see, especially considering how early in the game it happened. They didn’t get into it a second time and appeared to move on, but you never want to see teammates shoving each other in the huddle.
Sean McVay didn’t seem bothered by it after the game, chalking it up to Ramsey and Rapp being competitors, while also comparing it to brothers fighting.
“It’s two great competitors. They both want to do right,” he said. “There was a little bit of a mixup. It’s just like anything else. You got any brothers? You ever get into a fight with your brother? Yeah you did. And so they moved on and they kept it going. I don’t think it affected our ability to move forward. These are two guys that love football. They love one another. There was a little bit of a mixup and any time you care about each other like that, you keep it moving and I thought that’s what we did.”
Jalen Ramsey punching a teammate in the huddle? Nice start, Rams pic.twitter.com/CcHJqimtza
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) January 2, 2022
Ramsey and Rapp weren’t sitting near each other on the sideline after the defense came off the field, but McVay says that wasn’t by design. It’s not as if he and the coaching staff separated the two players.
“No, these guys are grown men,” McVay said. “If you guys heard the stuff that I say on the headset during the games, it’s way worse than smacking another player. This is an emotional game. I always tell people, ‘I can’t promise it won’t happen again but I can always promise to apologize.’ These are things that happen. We’ll keep it moving. These guys love one another and I think this is part of what families go through.”
Fortunately, the mixup and spat didn’t affect the outcome of the game because the defense still played well, but this is something McVay would probably rather not see in the first quarter of a game.
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