Over the weekend the Arizona Cardinals lost to one of football’s worst teams. Up 21-6 over the Tennessee Titans in the 4th quarter, running back Emari Demercado ripped off a 72-yard touchdown run to make it 27-6. Except he didn’t. Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice had thoughts to share as well.
The running back chose to make the same dumb mistake many before him have, and dropped the ball just as he was approaching the goal line. Replay showed that he hadn’t yet entered the end zone, and the ball was fumbled for a touchback.
ESPN reporting the #AZCardinals are fining head coach Jonathan Gannon $100K for his sideline exchange with RB Emari Demercado.
Gannon apologized to Demercado and the team yesterday… and said Demercado wouldn’t face any punishment for dropping the ball before the end zone.… pic.twitter.com/lwqgPfo7Zz
— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) October 7, 2025
Head coach Jonathan Gannon lost his mind and smacked his running back after a heated conversation. Gannon earned a $100,000 fine for the altercation. Not everyone agrees with the outcome.
Mike Tice shares opinion on Jonathan Gannong situation
The Minnesota Vikings employed Mike Tice as their head coach from 2001-2005. Tice owns a 32-33 record as a head coach. The former tight end was largely seen as a no-nonsense leader. He offered his thoughts on the Gannon situation, and former Vikings running back Leroy Hoard echoed the sentiment as well.
you guys dont understand that football is a negative reinforced sport. We strive for 100% not like other sports . The discipline looks different. No one takes it personally. Even though Gannon couldve handled it different. The play couldve been avoided
— Leroy Hoard (@BigMouthLeroy) October 8, 2025
The gist of both Tice and Hoard’s comments are that Gannon was reacting to what one of his players did, and within the realm of normal coaching. Obviously if you want to extrapolate this situation to an office cubicle situation, and your own boss, it would be entirely out of line. However, it’s hard to see what Gannon did and not think that hundreds of high school and college coaches around the country operate similarly.
Emari Demercado is a professional, playing a physical sport, being paid nearly $3 million. It’s hardly unexpected for a football coach to show a level of anger, and physicality is part of the expectation. It’s not as though Gannon assaulted his player in some negligent or completely unexpected way. He reacted to a mind-numbingly silly play in a way that showed emotion and desire to correct things going forward.
As Hoard also points out, the way in which Gannon went about things could have been different. It should have been. It’s also in the heat of the moment. There are plenty of examples across football in which emotion during a physical and demanding sport overtake someone. To blow that out of proportion is largely a reflection of society today as opposed to dealing with what is actually in front of us.
Let us never forget that time Richard Sherman went off on Michael Crabtree while a terrified Erin Andrews stood next to him. pic.twitter.com/graJKFvxg5
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 9, 2018
In the moments following their interaction, I’d guess Demercado thought nothing of his coach’s reaction, and was more reflective of the mistake he had just made. Mike Tice, Leroy Hoard, and countless others connected across the league probably would agree.
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