Saints coach Sean Payton couldn’t believe that Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans wasn’t ejected.
But Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore said he was glad Evans got to hang around.
Evans got a personal foul for his blindside shot on Lattimore, after Lattimore swatted at injured Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston for poking him in the head.
Payton couldn’t believe the play didn’t result in a disqualification, though Evans will be subject to potential punishment from the league later this week.
“I know it went to [the NFL office in] New York to look at, and if there’s not an ejection in that situation, then I don’t know when there’s supposed to be an ejection,” Payton said, via Josh Katzenstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
But Lattimore took the opposite view.
“I wanted to go at him after that, so I was glad he wasn’t ejected,” Lattimore said. “They were just talking on the sideline, and I was turned away, about to walk away and he pushed the back of my head. I don’t play that, so I had to retaliate. . . .
“That’s the sneakiest of sneak moves. Nobody has any respect for that. It is what it is. He did what he did.”
Evans appeared ready to throw punches, but was pulled off by Saints cornerback De’Vante Harris, who played with Evans at Texas A&M.
“You come at my guy, I’m going to ride,” Harris said. “But don’t get it twisted, Mike is still the homie. I still love him like a brother.”
Evans finished the game with one catch for 13 yards. And is likely to hear from New York later this week to add financial injury to the insult.