Mike Tomlin Defends Trai Turner, Says He Was Spit on By Raiders Player

PITTSBURGH — Steelers offensive lineman Trai Turner was ejected from his team’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday for apparently spitting at an opposing player.

After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin was critical of the Steelers’ overall number of penalties, but came to Turner’s defense and said he did not feel he deserved to be ejected for what Tomlin characterized as retaliation.

“Somebody spit in his face,” Tomlin said. “So I understand the 15-yard penalties and so forth, gaining control of the game and stuff, I just — Trai is not a young guy. He’s not overly emotional. He’s a flat-liner. For him to respond the way that he responded, what transpired had to transpire. I was stating that case to them. I didn’t believe he did enough to be kicked out of the football game. That was just my opinion.”

Turner, who was not made available to the media after the game, took to Twitter to thank his head coach for his support.

Thank you Mike T.

— Trai Turner (@trai_turner) September 19, 2021

It’s not clear at his point if Turner will face supplemental discipline from the league.