The Tennessee Titans finally notched their first win of the 2025 season in Week 5, but it came after a wild sequence against the Arizona Cardinals. The Cards were about to go up 28-6 early in the fourth quarter when running back Emari Demercado broke free for what looked like a 72-yard touchdown … only to drop the ball just before crossing the goal line.
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That costly, game-losing blunder set off quite a storm on the Cardinals’ sideline. Head coach Jonathan Gannon completely lost his cool, getting right in Demercado’s face and even slapping his right arm before storming away. The moment was caught on camera as well, and not long after, Demercado was slapped with a whopping $100,000 fine from the team.
Now, the entire NFL world is chiming in. Former Pro Bowl wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh even says that if Gannon had tried that with him, things would’ve played out very differently.
On an episode of Speakeasy with Emmanuel Acho, while reacting to the $100k fine, Houshmandzadeh said no coach would have gotten away with that sideline aggression with him, because he would have knocked them out.
The former wideout added that all his coaches in the past knew about this as well, which is why something like that could never have happened to him. He’s the kind of player who demands respect from his coach because if he, the player, got aggressive, he would get cut. And if Housh stayed quiet after a sideline insult, his wife at home wouldn’t stay quiet … and his son wouldn’t be proud either.
“First off, a coach would never do that to me… I’m knocking him out on the sideline. I promise you… And every coach I’ve had, they know that,” Housh said.
“And I’m not, not like a tough guy. You just not gonna disrespect me like that? Cause if I do that to you on the sideline, I get cut…I got a son at home. What you think he gonna say when he sees this? I might argue with my wife, and I raise my voice, she liable to be like, ‘Oh, you want to raise your voice at me? But you let that man hit you like that?'” he added.
Houshmandzadeh then added that coaches know very well who they can be aggressive with like that. Demercado became the victim because he simply wasn’t an assertive player like everyone else, the veteran wideout included.
“But I’ll say this, he knows who to try… He not doing that to nobody that he knows going to put hands on him… And again, I’m not acting like I’m a tough guy, [but] you not putting my hands on me like that.”
Housh also said it’s the same everywhere, not just in the NFL but in college, too. Coaches know exactly who they can take their frustration out on.
Acho, the host of the show, agreed with everything his guest said. He also recalled an instance from the 2014 season with the Eagles, when rookie nose tackle Beau Allen and Brandon Graham would yell ‘sack’ during practice like they were supposed to, but head coach Chip Kelly only singled out Allen. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles, perhaps.
