Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson was pleased to hear no one would be suspended for the ugly actions at the end of Sunday’s game in Jacksonville. However, that didn’t stop him from calling his confrontation with fans “unfortunate” after having debris thrown at him from stands after he was ejected in the final minute of the game.
“It’s unfortunate,” Jefferson said Wednesday. “Wish it didn’t get that far, wish it didn’t happen but once it happened we’ve got to learn from it and ultimately we’ve got to move on from it.”
Jefferson was leaving the field of play after being ejected when some sort of trash flew over his head from the stands. He stopped in his tracks, returned to the front of the stands and began shouting at fans. When more debris came flying his direction and narrowly missed his head, Jefferson snapped and attempted to climb into the stands before team equipment manager Erik Kennedy managed to pull him back from the railing and helped lead him from the field.
“He feels terrible about it,” head coach Pete Carroll said of Jefferson on Monday. “It’s not the kind of kid he is. He just emotionally got overrun and he lost it. Fortunately, people restrained him and all that. It’s a tremendous learning opportunity for him and any other young guys.”
Defensive tackle Jarran Reed tweeted after the game that Jefferson had racial slurs shouted at him from the stands as well. Jefferson said he wasn’t sure of that but took offense to something else he did hear.
“I honestly don’t know,” Jefferson said when asked about the alleged slur. “There was a lot of people saying a lot of stuff so I really didn’t tune into anything in particular. There was really only one thing I tuned into in particular. Somebody said they was going to have sex with my mother. That’s the only thing I really can really remember.
“There was so much yelling and stuff I couldn’t make out anything what people were saying except for that one thing. That stuck. I heard that.”
Jefferson said he’s since watched replays of the whole affair.
“It was a little hard,” he said. “It was a little worse because I’ve got kids. My kids seen it. My wife seen it. She was upset about it and everything. I felt even more for them because they had to watch that stuff.”
