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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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ravens Release Statement on Lamar Jackson, Bills Fan Incident .