So, Washington Commanders defensive tackle just hauled off and sucker punched Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on Sunday afternoon in Week 10. I honestly wish there was more context to provide than that, but with Washington's season quickly going full-on underwater, the best we can assume is that the frustrations overall just boiled over in one moment, which resulted in Payne doling out a wound-up haymaker to the side of St. Brown's head after the latter's touchdown.
It all went down at the end of the first quarter. St. Brown found paydirt on a nine-yard pass from Jared Goff, celebrated with the "Trump dance" in front of the president himself in attendance, and then started heading toward the sideline. As he passed by Payne, the Commanders veteran leader looked nothing like the part as he cocked-back wide with his right hand and hit the receiver. Truly a wild sight to behold.
Daron Payne just randomly punching Amon Ra St Brown is sending me 😭 pic.twitter.com/Yr3OsTeIcF
— NFL Memes (@NFLHateMemes) November 9, 2025
We, of course, don't know what (if anything) was being said on the field, but even then, that type of behavior is unacceptable. Payne was ejected after the play, and things obviously went from bad to worse for the Commanders. And you simply can't think of anything else other than Washington being beyond over the 2025 season.
Commanders vibes have hit a shocking new low with Daron Payne's punch
It's undeniable that the vibes in Washington were borderline atrocious before they even fell behind by three scores to the Lions in the first half of Week 10's action. Their season was hanging on by a thread prior to last week already, and then star second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was questionably still playing in a blowout loss, dislocated his elbow and may now be out for the rest of the year.
That was the obvious nail in the coffin for the Commanders this season, if that hadn't already been hammered in prior to Daniels' injury. Washington's defense has looked far too old and, bluntly, slow to perform at the same level they did a year ago for Dan Quinn, and they've paid the price for that week in and week out.
Having said all of that, though, it's a horrible sign at this point that Payne, one of the leaders for this Commanders team, is letting his frustrations get the best of him. There shouldn't be any fisticuffs in the NFL on the field to begin with, but doing so seemingly unprovoked and completely outside of any action is just wildly immature, unreasonable and unacceptable.
And if that weren't enough, the boiling over didn't stop after Payne was ejected, as there was another near-scrap before halftime when the Lions kicked a field goal to go up 25-10. The refs kept it from escalating, but it's beyond clear that the Commanders simply aren't in a good mental space as a collective whole right now.
Things will get worse before they get better for the Commanders
Unfortunately, Payne and the rest of the Washington are going to need to tighten up and keep a cool head, because things aren't going to get easier for this team down the stretch. That, naturally, starts with Marcus Mariota now manning the controls for the offense in place of the injured Daniels, but it goes beyond that as well — and is something that the Commanders now have to face head-on in the long term.
Washington's offseason largely felt like a front office trying to win now, which stood to reason after Daniels led this team to the NFC Championship Game. The problem was the process that they chose to do with. This team traded for an aging Deebo Samuel and added more aging veterans to the mix, doing so while also not finding adequate young depth for the older players already on the roster, thus not preparing to withstand any type of decline.
That decline is what we were witnessing with or without Daniels on the field. And now that the star signal-caller is sidelined for the second time this season, it'd be impossible for players like Payne and others to not be fuming at how things have deteriorated. Having said that, it's on those players to actually be professional about it — and punching Amon-Ra St. Brown in the side of the head certainly isn't the way to go about that.