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Dez Bryant Rips Cardinals for Fining Head Coach $100K for Ugly Moment With His RB

Andy Nesbitt

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was fined $100,000 for his ugly sideline altercation with Emari Demercado.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was fined $100,000 for his ugly sideline altercation with Emari Demercado. / @NFL
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On Sunday, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was seen having a heated sideline moment with Emari Demercado after the Arizona running back committed a brutal mistake that eventually led to his team losing to the Titans.

On Tuesday, Gannon was punished by the team as he was fined $100,000 for his actions, which saw him slapping the chest of Demercado before storming away.

In case you missed it, Demercado was about to cross the goal line for what would have been a 71-yard touchdown run but he dropped the ball a second too early and it ended up bouncing out of the end zone for a touchback. Instead of giving the Cardinals a big lead in the fourth quarter, the Titans got the ball back and ended up rallying for the win.

Former Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant took issue with the Cardinals punishing Gannon, tweeting on Wednesday: "I don't agree with the Cardinals fining Coach Gannon $100k... I believe it only happened because of the soft ass world we live in today... If you're an athlete with any kind of integrity and respect for the game..you'll understand that situation…This is football..that play clearly cost them the game…I hope this doesn't cause a weird vibe between the coach Gannon and Demercado."

That's a pretty bad take by Bryant considering how Gannon clearly put his hands on one of his players. What if it was the other way around and Demercado was the one hitting Gannon? He would have been punished for that, too.

Another former wide receiver, Torrey Smith, blasted Bryant for his comments, tweeting: "Hell nah bro, he is lucky he didn't get dropped! Yell and curse all you want but keep your hands to yourself!"

Hopefully Gannon learns from this situation because that was a really rough look for the head coach.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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