Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals have issued their head coach, Jonathan Gannon, a $100,000 fine for roughing up RB Emari Demercado on the sidelines during the loss to the winless Tennessee Titans.
With the Cardinals up 21-6 in the second quarter with 12:51 remaining, Demercado found a hole open between LT Paris Johnson and Hjalte Froholdt and then raced untouched for what seemed like a 72-yard touchdown scamper.
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But the defender on the play, CB L’Jarius Sneed, made chase and, in the end, attempted to punch out the ball around the one-yard line. Sneed had caught up with Demercado because the running back began to slow down at the 10-yard line, and by the time he was at the five, he was in full deceleration mode even though he still had not crossed the goal line.
Sneed did not punch the ball out, but instead, Demercado let it drop out of his hands. It was ruled a touchdown with the Cardinals now up 27-6 with a pending PAT attempt.
Once Demercado crossed the goal line, the ball was loose and then tumbled out of the back of the end zone. Sneed instantly began to complain that the play should not be a score, but instead a touchback. Meanwhile, the obviously tired Demercado stood mere feet away from the stadium wall with arms up in celebration in front of hometown fans.
Sneed continued his tirade about the play not being a touchdown. The referees then took a look at the play, and in the end, it was decided that Demercado had let the ball go free just inches in front of the goal line. That nullified the six points and gave Tennessee the ball with a first down at their own 20-yard line.
At the final gun, the Titans won 22-21. The lost six points were invaluable.
Meanwhile, along the sidelines after the officials ruled that Demercado had simply dropped the ball too soon and the touchdown was taken off the board, numerous players came over to the running back to console him. One of these was offense tackle Johnson, who had his arm around Demercado as OG Will Hernandez looked on.
Gannon is seen coming over to Demercado, begins yelling at the running back, and berates him. If you have ever played organized sports, especially the game of football, this is nothing new. The severity of the word-bashing depends on the player’s mistake.
At one point, Coach Gannon bumps Demarcado’s front breast plate of his shoulder pads, screams a bit more, and then punches him, probably in the same spot. Every football player gets hit, slammed, punched, and pushed in the exact same spot in every practice and game. This breast plate is made of the same rigid plastic that the rest of the shoulder pads are made of, and then has padding underneath, so it is made to take abuse.
This means Coach Gannon did not injure Demarcado, but the act of being punched by...
