Bucs center Joe Hawley “thinks” Seahawks defensive lineman Jarran Reed spat in Hawley’s face last Sunday. Reed denies that he supplied any saliva.
“First of all, we play in between the lines,” Reed said, via Curtis Crabtree of KJR (and PFT). “You can go back and watch the film. You will see that. If he thinks he’s a clean player, then I don’t know what he’s seeing. But as far as the allegation of me spitting in his face, that’s not true at all. I mean, show me the play, show me where I did it, then you can say something. Other than that, I just think it’s funny.”
There’s not much that’s funny about Reed’s attitude toward the Buccaneers or fans that have been criticizing him on anti-social media for spitting.
“I definitely saw it earlier on my Twitter account,” Reed said. “I guess the Buccaneers nation is pretty pissed. But I really don’t care. I don’t care for him or their organization or about the comments he made. That’s really it. They can keep talking about it all they want to.”
As Crabtree notes, Hawley became irate at Reed after the first play of the fourth quarter. But the TV broadcast of the game was not focused on the two men before it became clear Hawley was upset. So why was Hawley mad, Jarran?
“I mean, I don’t know, I guess because he couldn’t block a rookie the way he wanted to,” Reed said. “So I’d be pretty pissed too. I guess you need to do a better job. . . .
“Nobody said nothing after the game. It was all cordial. Nobody was mad or anything. Now all of the sudden . . . I thought we were all grown men. I think it’s pretty funny. He sounds like a 14-year old girl running to everybody, ‘Oh, he spit in my face’ and all that. Anyways, next.”
“Next” is probably the most accurate assessment, from the league’s perspective. If the NFL would be punishing Reed for the incident, it would have happened before Friday. It’s unknown whether the Buccaneers specifically complained to the league office about it.