Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon apologized to running back Emari Demercado during a team meeting Monday for his reaction after Demercado let go of the football before crossing the goal line, erasing what would’ve been a 72-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
In a video that went viral on social media, Gannon walks over to Demercado as he was being consoled by left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and then gets in the running back’s face. Gannon appears to rip into Demercado, continuing his rant as he begins walking away. As Gannon walks away, he appears to make contact with Demercado’s right arm.
“I woke up this morning and didn’t feel great about it, honestly,” Gannon said.
“I just told [the team], I kind of let the moment of what happened get the better of me there. Obviously, I try to be emotionally stable and calm because my job is to solve problems during a game and lead the charge on that. So, it’s not really who I am, who I want to be, and I told the guys that today.
“So, it’s a mistake by me, and it’s just like everybody in there, everybody made some type of mistake yesterday, which culminates to why we didn’t win the game, and we can’t let it happen moving forward.”
Demercado’s touchdown would’ve put Arizona up 28-6 with 12:40 left in the fourth quarter.
Gannon said his reaction was a result of the pent-up frustration in a game full of gaffes, mistakes and ill-timed penalties.
“I just thought it was a big play in the game that it needs to be executed,” Gannon said. “I’ve seen us do that before, execute those things, and we hold our hat on standard operating procedures about the ball, and I just would’ve liked to see it execute a little bit better there.”
The Cardinals are looking to put Sunday behind them as they prepare for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
