Watch: Browns player ejected after shoving Chiefs coach on sideline (Video)

Browns safety Ronnie Harrison was ejected from Week 1 after shoving a Chiefs coach on the sideline during a scuffle. 

Things turned ugly quickly in Kansas City as football returned to the stadium formerly known as Arrowhead.

Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Harrison Jr was ejected in the first quarter of Sunday’s game after he took a shot at a Chiefs coach during a scuffle on the sideline.

In a baffling turn of events, officials initially called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Chiefs sideline for the incident. It was only after some discussion and a call from the NFL’s officiating center in New York that a penalty was retroactively called on Harrison.

Ronnie Harrison Jr ejected after punching a Chiefs coach on sideline

Here’s the incident, which is pretty cut-and-dry as far as who deserved a penalty and who didn’t:

The Chiefs getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct isn’t as outrageous as it sounds. Yes, Harrison’s punch was absolutely unacceptable but the NFL has instituted new rules meant to stop teams from trash talk and taunting.

Aside from Harrison’s punch, there was enough jawing going on from the Chiefs sideline to warrant a flag from officials. No amount of trash talk, however, justifies a player punching anyone.

Harrison was ejected from the game but it’s unlikely that the punishment ends there. Players have been fined and/or suspended by the NFL for getting into altercations with one another on the field, but this crossed over into whole new territory. A player and coach having an intentionally violent incident as the one Harrison got into is something the league will almost surely come down hard against.