Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters has been fined $12,500 by the league for unsportsmanlike conduct after appearing to spit at Jarvis Landry as the Cleveland Browns wide receiver walked away in their game Monday night.
On Thursday, Landry called Peters "cowardly" for the act, saying, "Wait until I turn around and do something like that? It's like, do it to my face. Be a man about it if you're going to do something like that."
Later Thursday, Peters issued a statement denying that he intentionally spit at Landry: "Where I come from, when you have an issue with someone, you deal with it face-to-face, man-to-man. Anyone who believes that I intentionally spit at him does not know me -- plain and simple."
Peters is appealing the fine, according to his agent. The cornerback is missing Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars with a calf injury.
On Friday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he spoke with Landry after the game and didn't think Peters directed his spit at Landry.
"No way would Marcus do that," Harbaugh said. "I know Marcus really well. That's not really his style anyway. If he was upset, he wouldn't be doing that. What he did was he spat in a direction. It wasn't in anybody's direction, per se. You can tell that on the clip. That's where I stand with it."
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski declined to comment on the situation when asked Friday.
The Ravens wound up defeating the Browns 47-42 in one of the top games of this NFL season.
The $12,500 fine is actually less than what it cost Peters to drink a beer during a game.
In December 2019, Peters was fined $14,037 for celebrating a pass breakup by jumping in the stands in Buffalo and drinking a fan's beer.
Still, this is a minor financial hit to Peters as the fine represents just 2.1% of his weekly salary. Peters is making $10 million this season, or $588,235 per week.
ESPN's Jamison Hensley contribute to this report.