Cardinals punish HC Jonathan Gannon for sideline altercation with Emari Demercado

It's the first time an NFL head coach has been fined for such an incident since Bruce Arians was fined $50,000 for swiping at safety Andrew Adams in the 2022 wild-card round playoff game. It's a heavy fine, but it's also hard to argue against the Cardinals doing something here. 

Gannon had every right to be infuriated with Demercado's decision to drop the ball. It was an easily avoidable situation and the type of thing that should not be tolerated by an NFL coaching staff (or a coaching staff at any level). There's just no excuse for it, especially given how many times it has happened at all levels of football in recent years.

But even with that being the case, there is also no excuse for a head coach to make that sort of physical contact with a player. You can yell, scream, take away playing time or even get rid of a player by releasing them or trading them. You cannot hit them. You cannot make that sort of contact with them. It's not good leadership, and it's not the type of thing players are going to respect. It is a good way to lose the locker room. Which is not something a coach with a 14-25 record in year three of his head-coaching tenure needs.