Alaric Jackson Wins His Appeal and Will Miss One Game for Punching Bradley Chubb

The Rams lost a game in overtime on Monday night and then lost their left tackle on Tuesday. The NFL suspended Alaric Jackson for two games without pay for punching Buffalo’s Bradley Chubb on the field after the Bills’ 37-34 win at SoFi Stadium, AP reports, in the second suspension of Jackson’s last three seasons. Jackson appealed, the Rams named his replacement, and on Wednesday the ban was cut to one game, as the final section of this article records.

Update, October 14: the league’s formal announcement has landed, the appeal is confirmed, and the replacement is named. The sections below have been updated with the NFL’s wording, Sean McVay’s comments and Chubb’s account of being the second man caught.

Update, October 14 (evening): the appeal has been heard and Jackson’s suspension is cut from two games to one. The new section at the end of this article has the ruling, the revised games he misses, and Chubb’s Wednesday account of what he actually said.

What has the NFL announced about the suspension?

Two games without pay, under the sportsmanship rule. The league said Jackson struck Chubb in the face after a brief confrontation while players were shaking hands and exchanging jerseys, violating Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1, which covers any act contrary to the generally understood principles of sportsmanship, Touchdown Wire reports. The announcement closed the one gap in Tuesday’s reporting: Aaron Wilson and Michael J. Duarte of the California Post had reported the ban before the league had formally notified the Rams or the NFLPA, theScore reported via Adam Schefter, and every report agreed on the length. McVay confirmed Jackson will appeal under the collective bargaining agreement, the New York Post reports, while saying the lineman has to make better decisions and that the conversation between them stays in-house, AP reports. It caps a week in which the league’s discipline docket has run in every direction, from Dre Greenlaw’s one-game ban for a headbutt, upheld on appeal to the rescinded fine for a drinking celebration.

What happened between Jackson and Chubb after the game?

The game was over and most of the stadium had emptied. Jackson had just swapped jerseys with one of Chubb’s Buffalo team-mates, the New York Post reports, when he and Chubb exchanged words near midfield. ESPN’s cameras showed Jackson hit Chubb in the face, knocking his cap off, Sporting News reports. Chubb went back toward him and was held away by several Bills players and by Myles Garrett, the Rams’ injured pass rusher, the New York Post reports. Chubb’s own account afterwards was deliberately flat: an emotional game, tempers flared, his team-mates held him back and he let it go, and, in his words, they always catch the second guy, theScore reports. AP adds one detail that will matter at the appeal: Chubb had words with Jackson and walked away, and Jackson followed him before throwing the strike that knocked his hat off. What sparked the exchange is still unclear, and neither player has explained it. It happened minutes after a game Sean McVay had already called himself sick over, for settling for the blocked overtime kick that ended it, on the same field, which is how a 37-34 classic produced two days of Rams damage control instead of one.

Why is the length of the ban notable?

Because it is longer than the closest precedent the league set almost exactly a year ago. NBC Sports laid the comparison out before the ban was announced: last October the NFL suspended Detroit’s Brian Branch for one game for striking an opponent in the face immediately after a game, under the same postgame discipline route the league has confirmed applies here, rather than the personal conduct policy. Jackson’s two games double that, and the differences are the ones the league tends to price in. The punch came well after the final whistle rather than in the immediate aftermath, Chubb’s helmet was off, and Jackson has a prior suspension on his record from 2024, which Rams Wire notes was also two games, for a personal conduct violation. The league also had a fresh same-week example of post-play conduct to measure against, Cairo Santos appearing to try to trip Matthew Golden after a play in Chicago, which drew attention without anything like this outcome.

What does the ban cost the Rams?

Their blindside protector for one Sunday, after the appeal halved the original price. Jackson has started every game this season at left tackle, and McVay has named veteran David Quessenberry as the replacement starter, AP reports: a 36-year-old who has played only 128 offensive snaps over the previous two seasons and has not started a game since 2023, a steep drop from a starter graded among the league’s better tackles this year. Stafford threw 54 passes on Monday night behind Jackson’s side of the line. Quessenberry inherits that workload against the Cardinals on three full days of practice, and then Jackson is back.

What did the appeal change on Wednesday?

Half the punishment, and the whole shape of the Rams’ next fortnight. The NFL announced on Wednesday that hearing officer Derrick Brooks, the Hall of Fame linebacker jointly appointed by the league and the NFLPA, had reduced the suspension to one game, Reuters reports. Jackson misses Arizona on Sunday, can return to the active roster on Monday, October 19, and is available for Week 7 at Las Vegas, USA Today reports. Fox News estimates the reduction saves him about $934,555, one game check rather than two. The same appeals route upheld Dre Greenlaw’s one-game ban on Tuesday, so Brooks was not simply lenient this week: Greenlaw’s headbutt ban stood in full, Jackson’s punch ban was cut in half, and the difference between the two files is now the league’s working definition of where a postgame strike sits. Wednesday also filled in the one gap the original reporting left open. Chubb told reporters he had started the verbal exchange himself, saying Buffalo would see the Rams again and that the extra blocking help Jackson had received would not save him, and he denied reports that he had insulted Jackson’s mother, the New York Post reports. What happens next is narrower than it was on Tuesday morning: Quessenberry’s one start, Jackson’s return in Las Vegas, and a Rams season that has already produced a blocked kick, an overtime loss and a postgame punch trying to get back to football. The same week showed the other end of the league’s disciplinary map, where a Miami jury’s split verdict on Tyreek Hill left a free agent’s future with the personal conduct review rather than with any hearing officer.