After their loss to the Detroit Lions, a frustrated Javon Kinlaw defended his teammate Daron Payne, who was ejected from the game in the second quarter after throwing a sucker punch at Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“I just felt like in the moment we were being cheated, to be honest,” Kinlaw said. “Daron only retaliated because the refs literally saw the first punch, you know what I’m saying? I don’t blame him for the way he reacted, you know and tempers got to be flying.”
Kinlaw is referring a a scuffled that was not shown on the FOX broadcast during the Lions vs. Washington Commanders game. He insisted that St. Brown threw a punch a few plays prior to Payne throwing one back. That video has finally been unearthed a few days later by Payne himself on his Instagram page—shared by a local Washington reporter here:
In the video, we see Payne shove St. Brown, then the Lions receiver shoves back. That causes the two to get in each others’ face, and eventually St. Brown takes a swing at Payne’s helmet, making contact with the defensive tackle. No penalty was called on the play, despite several refs being right in the mix of the scuffle.
A few plays later, after the Lions scored their third touchdown of the game, St. Brown walked by Payne, and the Commanders’ defensive lineman threw a punch right into St. Brown’s head/neck area:
After the game, St. Brown didn’t mention the previous scuffle, but did admit he said something to Payne before he was sucker punched.
“We end up scoring, and I go up to him. I say a little something—nothing crazy—and he decides to swing on me,” St. Brown said.
Payne was not only immediately ejected from the game, but he was also handed a one-game suspension by the league. That ruling has already been upheld after Payne attempted to appeal it.
At this point, it isn’t clear if St. Brown will be subject to any punishment. It’s quite possible he gets fined. But because his punch/shove/swing happened in the middle of a scuffle—as opposed to Payne’s sucker punch—it doesn’t seem likely he’ll receive a suspension.
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