The Arizona Cardinals likely felt confident entering the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Week 5 matchup against the winless Tennessee Titans holding a 21-6 lead.
After all, the Titans had mustered just 109 yards of total offense and hadn’t scored a touchdown until that point. But what transpired in that fourth quarter very few saw coming.
Cardinals running back Emari Demercado seemed destined to stretch Arizona’s lead to three touchdowns after bursting through the Titans defense for what appeared to be a 72-yard touchdown run.
However, before he crossed the goal line, Demercado tossed the ball in the air on the 1-yard line, and the officials called it a fumble out of bounds and ruled it a touchback, giving the Titans possession on their own 20-yard line.
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Tennessee then drove 80 yards and pulled within 21-12 on a Tony Pollard touchdown run.
The Titans scored another touchdown and kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired to earn their first victory of the year, and many were pointing the finger at Demercado and his egregious blunder as the reason why.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was among those furious at the 26-year-old running back, and shortly after the game, a video emerged on social media of Gannon ripping into his tailback for the mistake.
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The video shows Gannon berating Demercado for approximately 10 seconds before seemingly hitting him across the chest as he stormed off.
Demercado was asked about the incident after the game, but he downplayed there being any tension between him and his head coach.
“Just got to be smarter, it’s as simple as that,” Demercado stated, via Blake Niemann of Fox 10 Phoenix. “… I haven’t [made a mistake like that before] but I guess it happens to the best of us, right?”
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