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Bills WR Stefon Diggs fined for unsportsmanlike conduct vs Rams

NFL takes offense to Diggs’s taunting in Week 1

NFL: Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Rams Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

During the Buffalo Bills’ Week 1 prime-time matchup with the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, Bills’ wide receiver Stefon Diggs had a day and he wanted to let cornerback Jalen Ramsey know all about it.

Ramsey, who entered the league in 2016 as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars before joining the Rams in 2019, is notorious for his trash talk both on the field and in the days leading up to games. While Ramsey doesn’t hold back no matter who his opponent is, the Bills and their fans have taken personal exception to comments he made about quarterback Josh Allen after Buffalo selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 draft.

“I think [Josh] Allen is trash. I don’t care what nobody say. He’s trash. And it’s gonna show too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me,” Ramsey is quoted as saying. “We play them this year, and I’m excited as hell. I hope he’s their starting quarterback. He played at Wyoming. Every time they played a big school—like, they played Iowa State, which is not a big school in my opinion because I went to Florida State, and he threw five interceptions, and they lost by a couple touchdowns or something like that.”

Allen and Diggs teamed up to make sure Ramsey understood that his statement didn’t age well as the duo connected for 122 yards on eight passes including a 53-yard touchdown during which Diggs ran past Ramsey to give Allen a wide-open target at the goal line.

After the scoring play, Diggs turned to Ramsey, took out his mouth guard, and pointed at the cornerback while patting himself on the head. While it isn’t known what Diggs said, there’s no doubt he was letting Ramsey know just how “not trash” that play was. Game officials didn’t take offense to Diggs’ actions, but the league did.

On Saturday, it was reported that the NFL had fined the wide receiver $10,609 for unsportsmanlike conduct for the taunting incident.

Of note, there has been no report of a fine for Allen who, after connecting with Diggs for the touchdown, sprinted down the field, sought out Ramsey, and let him know how great he was feeling on his way to an 83.9% completion rate and a 112.0 passer rating for the game.

Also fined by the NFL was Dane Jackson, who had been flagged with a taunting penalty after Boogie Basham intercepted Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. A replay never picked up what Jackson had done to draw the flag, but the league fined the Buffalo cornerback $4,972.

As for Ramsey, he got the message that Diggs sent as he ran flawless routes all night long and had only seven words to say after the game. “We got our a– beat. Straight up.”