
The NFL fined Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon $100,000 for his altercation with running back Emari Demercado in their loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the league announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Gannon will not face further discipline.
“We have been in contact with the NFLPA and the club, which addressed the matter,” the NFL said in a statement. “There is no further action from the league.”
Gannon erupted on Demercado in Sunday’s loss and hit him as he walked away after Demercado fumbled the ball just before crossing the goal line — which negated what should have been a 72-yard touchdown run that would have put the Cardinals up 28-6 in the fourth quarter. Instead, it helped spark the Titans’ comeback and helped push them to the wild 22-21 win.
Though he initially downplayed the incident and said that “it’s never about one play,” Gannon later apologized to both Demercado and the team for his actions.
“I woke up this morning and didn’t feel great about it, honestly … I just told them I kind of let the moment of what happened get the better of me there,” he said. “Obviously I try to be emotionally stable and calm, because my job is to solve problems during a game and try to lead the charge on that. It’s not really who I am and who I want to be.”
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Demercado finished with 81 rushing yards on three carries in the loss. The 26-year-old, who the Cardinals picked up after he went undrafted out of TCU in 2023, has 89 total rushing yards on seven carries this season. He caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Murray late in the team’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 25 for his first score of the year.
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Gannon is in his third season leading the Cardinals, which marks his first head coaching job in the league. He was hired ahead of the 2023 season to replace Kliff Kingsbury after spending two seasons as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator. Gannon is now the first head coach to be fined for an altercation with a player since former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was fined $50,000 for an incident in 2022.
The Cardinals, who have now lost three straight, sit at 2-3 on the season. They’ll take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
This news was originally published on this post .
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