C.J. Gardner-Johnson Suspended One Game for Spitting at Brock Bowers

Getting suspended for a late hit is a football problem. Getting suspended for treating an opponent like a sidewalk is a personal choice. The NFL just handed Buffalo Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson a one-game unpaid vacation for spitting at Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers during Sunday's 33-30 win.

The league cited a violation of the generally understood principles of sportsmanship, which is a very polite corporate way of saying you cannot launch bodily fluids at a coworker on national television. Gardner-Johnson was already ejected in the second quarter for the incident, turning a standard defensive holding discussion into a scene out of a bad reality show.

"Ian Rapoport reported the suspension, noting it violates the NFL's rule against acts contrary to generally understood principles of sportsmanship."

Before he was sent to the locker room, the veteran safety was already having a rough night at the office. He missed two tackles in the first half, including a blown stop on tight end Michael Mayer that directly set up a Raiders field goal. If you are going to get yourself kicked out of a tight game, you usually want to make sure you were actually helping your team before you leave.

Buffalo brought Gardner-Johnson in this offseason specifically to rebuild a secondary that lost Jordan Poyer. Instead, they are now scrambling to patch holes in their defensive backfield. The Bills managed to survive the second half against Las Vegas without him, but relying on backup safeties to hold a lead is not a sustainable business model for a team with deep playoff ambitions.

Now the consequences get real for the betting markets and the Buffalo defense. Gardner-Johnson will serve his suspension during the Bills' November 1 showdown against the Baltimore Ravens. Trying to slow down the Baltimore offense is already a nightmare scenario, but doing it down a starting safety shifts the entire math on the total and the spread. Gardner-Johnson can appeal, but unless he can prove gravity somehow reversed itself, he will be watching the Ravens game from his couch.