A Week 16 matchup with playoff implications on the line was bound to be high-stakes. The Pittsburgh Steelers were vying to stay ahead in the AFC North while the Detroit Lions were on a wild-card push. But Steelers’ wide receiver DK Metcalf thought he had the time to make one more mistake. More precisely, a sideline altercation at Ford Field that has firmly put the No. 4 at the risk of significant league discipline.

Late in the second quarter, CBS Sports broadcast went on a commercial break as the Steelers’ cornerback Brandon Echols was getting medical attention on the field. Upon returning, footage showed a Lions fan, who had a blue wig on while holding a No. 4 Steelers jersey in his hands, leaning over the railing in the front row of the stands to speak with Metcalf. Words were exchanged, and the next thing you know, Metcalf grabbed him by his shirt collar to pull him closer and lashed out with a closed fist. There looked to be little – if any – real contact whatsoever.

Neither the fan nor Metcalf was removed from the game. For the latter, it was precisely so because, firstly, the referees did not notice the incident, and secondly, NFL cannot, from the league level, instruct officials to penalize or eject a player during a game, per a league source. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the 28-year-old is off the hook.

Interestingly, NFL’s six-pager Personal Conduct Policy document doesn’t have fan-player interactions codified. But league policies for players prohibits any conduct “detrimental to the integrity and public confidence in” the NFL. Retrospectively too, the severity of the incident is a bad look for the player, the Steelers and the league as a whole. At least, that is what early reports indicate so when ESPN’s Adam Schefter, in a comment to an Instagram post, had already confirmed that the NFL “will review this incident for discipline.”

If the league office decides to lay penalties on Metcalf, this will be third time he would have been fined this season so far, once for fighting ($12,172) and once for an obscene gesture ($14,491) in the past. How big a penalty this time? CBS insider Jonathan Jones predicted Metcalf to expect a fine north of $277,000.

Here are both sides to the incident

After the incident, the fan didn’t retort, and instead, cheered by throwing his hands in the air. Metcalf too looked back towards the field, and things went on as routine. The Detroit Free Press later interviewed the fan, who goes by the name Ryan Kennedy, comes from Pinckney, Michigan, and here is how things went down per Kennedy. Kennedy first called Metcalf by his full name, DeKaylin Zecharius Metcalf.

“I called him that, and then he grabbed me and ripped my shirt,” Kennedy told. “I’m a little shocked. Like everyone’s talking to me. I’m a little rattled, but I just want the Lions to win, baby.”

That didn’t happen as the Steelers downed the Lions in a 29-24 victory on Sunday, with the Steelers now have a winning record for a 22nd straight year, nineteen of those NFL record years come with the team in Mike Tomlin’s care. But Metcalf’s sideline incident is precisely what any team who is in a playoff hunt doesn’t want from their star receiver.

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Metcalf exited the locker room without taking questions from reporters after the win. For now, Mike Tomlin maintains that he didn’t know about the incident until later and will talk to Metcalf about the same. We don’t know what more the fan had said to trigger Metcalf but in the entirety of the first half, Metcalf could manage just one catch for five yards. In fact, he struggled during the entire game. Despite being their top receiver all season with 55 receptions for 808 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 14 games, he ended the night with four catches for 42 yards.

The league doesn’t treat such interactions in a one-size-fits-all manner either. Case in point, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson‘s, season opener incident with a Buffalo Bills fan. In the late third quarter, Jackson was celebrating a 29-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins near the front row. Then, a Bills fan first hit the receiver Hopkins in the helmet before doing the same with the quarterback. In response, the three-time league MVP shoved the fan away with both his hands. The league ultimately did not take an action, and the team had settled the dispute internally. What happens of the sideline incident, we will soon find out in the next list of the Gameday Accountability.

On Sunday, the Black and Gold were focused on not just winning. Pittsburgh needed a bigger differential against the Baltimore Ravens to stay the division leader. But none of that came easy since until the second half. The offence seemingly struggled in the crucial road matchup. Until the altercation, they had recorded only 68 yards in four possessions, and the two entered the halftime with the score tied at 10-10. Then, the visitors slowly picked up pace, and it started with the Steel Curtain. In the third quarter, with 9:45 on the clock, Steelers’ Kyle Dugger sacked the Lions QB Jared Goff for safety, putting two points on the board for a small lead of 12-10. Then, Chris Boswell’s 23-yard field goal, followed by a touchdown and another field goal, gave the Steelers a 22-10 lead. The Lions responded with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but another TD by the Steelers capped the game.

As the WR awaits the league’s discipline, the Steelers will fly to Cleveland for a matchup between a veteran and a rookie at QB. It will be important for Rodgers and Co. to be ever-present in that game as Shedeur Sanders’ squad broke Josh Allen’s sweat in the 23-20 loss.