During the Bengals season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, Jerome Simpson handed Terrell Suggs' helmet back to him after Andrew Whitworth dominated Suggs, knocking off his helmet and landing on him. While still on the ground, Simpson picked up the fallen helmet and handed it to Suggs, who stood up and slugged Simpson in the facemask.
“I was going to give him his helmet,” Simpson explained. “I said, ‘He got you on the ground.’ He got mad and hit me with his right arm. It landed, but it didn’t faze me.”
To Simpson's credit, he didn't completely crash like a box of rocks the way Ben Roethlisberger did after Richard Seymour slugged the Steelers quarterback.
"Those guys were chirping all night," said Simpson. "It was mostly Suggs. I don’t know why. He was telling me I’d be out of the league next year. He said he had more catches than me. It was all in fun."
While Suggs wasn't penalized with a personal conduct penalty, he was fined $15,000 by the NFL last week, according to the Enquirer's Joe Reedy.
“He threw a pretty good right hand at me,” Simpson said as the Bengals were cleaning out their lockers on Monday. “I walked to the ref and said ‘he just (blatantly) hit me in front of everyone and you didn’t see it?’ I guess he got away with one.”
Said Suggs after the game: “Luckily I got away with one. Usually I don’t get away with anything. They were too busy looking for the spot on the ball.”