Raiders Were Feisty Against Bills, But Not So Much Since

Things got a little nasty between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Buffalo Bills a couple of weeks ago, and bodily fluids were exchanged. 

Bills safety Sam Franklin was penalized, ejected and then suspended for spitting on Raiders’ right tackle DJ Glaze but Franklin was able to get the penalty reduced to a fine for $14,926, according to a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, but that hasn’t changed Glaze’s take about what happened. 

Glaze’s description was vivid, and no holds barred as well. He said Franklin  “was, like, face to face, and he just let it rip,” but the evidence wasn’t as clear. 

Unlike teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Franklin didn’t put on a performace that involved finger-pointing and some comments about what would happen next that were probably unprintable, with Gardner-Johnson’s violation occurring on Raiders star tight end Brock Bowers. 

Glaze said he did it, regardless of what Franklin claims, and “the NFL did what they did about it,” which was subtract from the safety’s game check. 

Exchanges like these are always good for some comic relief after a tough game, and the Raiders lodged a complaint against the NFL’s move, with Bills coach Joe Brady saying that the whole thing was “hearsay.” 

The reality is that the officials were probably watching Gardner-Johnson more closely than Franklin given the former’s reputation for going ballistic. That almost automatically means the second man in doesn’t get as much attention, and Franklin was able to take advantage of that. 

Unfortunately, the Raiders weren’t able to take advantage of the situation as a whole. The Raiders have been running a gauntlet in the toughest part of their schedule for the last four games, and the Buffalo contest was one of two against top-tier teams that Las Vegas had a chance to win, the other being their close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. 

But the other two losses have been non-competitive, and the Raiders didn’t show much fight against the New England Patriots or the Los Angeles Rams. What wound up being a close game against Buffalo already feels like it happened a long time ago with the Raiders currently sporting a four game losing streak, and they badly need to right the ship against the New York Jts on Sunday. 

Things may get a little feistier based on the comments of running back Ashton Jeanty, though, who could draw some unsportsmanlike attention after saying he’s seen a couple of Jets defenders who don’t like to tackle.