The Game Ended in Overtime. The Fight Started After: Rams Tackle Alaric Jackson Punches Bills' Bradley Chubb at Midfield

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

Monday night's game at SoFi Stadium was an overtime classic — Buffalo 37, Los Angeles 34, a blocked field goal, a winning drive, the whole script. What people will be talking about on Tuesday, though, happened after the clock hit zero: Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson punched Bills outside linebacker Bradley Chubb in the face during the postgame jersey exchange, on camera, at midfield.

ESPN's account of the scene is straightforward. Jackson was standing near midfield exchanging jerseys with Bills defensive lineman Deone Walker when Chubb appeared to say something to him. Jackson walked toward Chubb and punched him with his right hand. The Associated Press, whose account ran on Sportsnet and TSN, added the detail that the blow knocked the hat off Chubb's head, and that teammates quickly separated the two men. Rams tight end Colby Parkinson pulled Jackson away.

Chubb's Version: He Let It Happen

Chubb, still in full uniform while Jackson had already removed his pads and jersey, addressed it in the Bills' locker room and made clear he was not interested in retaliating — or in naming names. He called it an emotional, close game and explained his restraint with the oldest logic in football: the officials always catch the second guy, so he let Jackson swing, let his teammates hold him back, and chilled. Asked whether the punch connected, he smiled it off and said he was ready for next week.

Reporting by the California Post, published by the New York Post, added a second act: exclusive video showed Chubb confronting Jackson again as Jackson walked toward the Rams' locker room, before injured Rams pass rusher Myles Garrett stepped in and held Chubb back. Apart from Chubb, ESPN reported, neither team addressed the incident afterward.

Why This Is Worse for Jackson Than a Normal Scuffle

Postgame punches are not unheard of, and the league has a recent template for punishing them. USA Today noted that last season Lions safety Brian Branch punched Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster after a game and was suspended one game without pay for unsportsmanlike conduct. If that is the measuring stick, a fine or a short suspension is the obvious starting point for Jackson.

Jackson's history, though, means his file does not start from zero. The AP reported that he was arrested on June 9 on suspicion of felony domestic violence after a confrontation at his home in the San Fernando Valley. No criminal charges have been filed, and the case was assigned to a pre-filing diversion program, but the NFL has yet to announce a decision on possible league discipline from that case. The suspension on his record is the older item, and it came first: the league suspended Jackson for the first two games of the 2024 season for a violation of its personal conduct policy, in a matter the league did not detail publicly. The recording allegation surfaced only later, in a lawsuit filed in November 2025 by a woman who alleged he recorded sexual acts without her consent; the suit was dismissed in federal court on April 10, 2026. Those are allegations and a past suspension, not findings about Monday night, but they are the context the league office will be looking at when it reviews the video.

Jackson is not a fringe player, either. He is 28, in his fourth season as the Rams' starting left tackle, a former undrafted free agent out of Iowa who won a Super Bowl ring as a backup in February 2022 and re-signed in February 2025 on a three-year, $57 million deal. Losing him — even for a game — changes the Rams' offensive line math immediately.

What Comes Next

The Rams host the Arizona Cardinals next, and the Bills travel to Las Vegas to face the Raiders on Sunday — which means Chubb, days removed from being punched on national television, walks into Allegiant Stadium against a Raiders team that has its own problems to fix. The league typically reviews postgame altercations during the week, with fines and suspensions for the following weekend announced before teams finalize their game plans.

For now, the last word belongs to the scoreboard and to Chubb's shrug. Buffalo won the game, in overtime, on the road. Chubb walked away smiling, in his words ready for next week. Jackson walked away having given the league office a clean, televised reason to make his week considerably harder.

How the game itself was won and lost is in our full recap of the Bills' 37-34 overtime win.

Correction (October 14, 2026): An earlier version of this story gave Alaric Jackson's age as 27 — he is 28 — and described his two-game NFL suspension as a consequence of the lawsuit filed against him in 2025. The suspension came first, in 2024; the lawsuit was filed in November 2025 and dismissed in federal court on April 10, 2026. A Sources section has been added.