GREEN BAY, Wis. – Joe Mixon might not have completed his Lambeau Leap in the first half, but it prevented one Green Bay Packers fan from watching the rest of Sunday’s 24-22 victory over the Houston Texans.
Or at least that was the plan.
With 11:52 left in the second quarter, Mixon scored on a 2-yard run to give the Texans a 10-7 lead. Trying to mimic the Packers’ fabled leap, Mixon jogged over to the stands where a lone Texans fan waited. A Packers fan dressed in a team ballcap with green-and-yellow overalls pushed Mixon away twice, grabbing the running back’s face mask on his second attempt.
Police officers arrived in the corner end zone section to eject the fan soon after. The fan was ejected for ‘excessive’ force, violating the team’s code of fan conduct, per the team. It isn’t uncommon for fans to mix it up with opposing players who try to leap into the stands, occasionally leading to physical contact or spilling beer on a player, but Sunday’s altercation led to an ejection because it was deemed to cross a line.
Mixon and the fan exchanged words on the sideline after the altercation. The fan appeared to flip off Mixon as he headed back for the Texans sideline.
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The fan was not facing any legal consequences for the altercation, only the ejection.
But the same fan appeared to have returned to his seat by game’s end. The fan appears in photos next to Packers kicker Brandon McManus, who executed a much more welcomed Lambeau Leap after making his game-winning kick Sunday from 45 yards. It’s unclear how the fan returned to his seat.
When asked if the fan was allowed to reenter, a team spokesman said the Packers were under the belief the fan had been ejected.
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