Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott has exhibited intelligence during his career as an NFL assistant.
But in response to today’s fight between Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and cornerback Josh Norman, McDermott said one of those things that make people think football coaches are all meatheads.
“We’d rather have that than guys out here just going through the motions, playing patty cake,” McDermott said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer.
Sure, if you think your quarterback possibly being injured while rolling around with a teammate is a good idea.
The whole thing started when Norman picked off Newton in a team drill, then stiff-armed his own quarterback who was giving chase. Things quickly went south, with the two shoving and ending up in a pile.
McDermott went onto say that he talked to Newton on the practice field afterward, encouraging him to keep throwing at Norman, using that trusty coach cliche “iron sharpens iron.”
Not to pick on McDermott too much, but that’s just a big ol’ pile of stupid.
The Panthers just gave Newton a $100 million contract. To play quarterback. You know, the most important position on the field.
Anyone who thinks any incident which ends up with a $100 million quarterback (or any quarterback) on the ground and needing to be separated from a teammate is reacting emotionally, rather than rationally.
Grrrr, testosterone, fight, good.
Fortunately, Panthers coach Ron Rivera took the more sane view, suggesting that while emotion and competition is nice, it has to be handled the appropriate way by both sides.
And he pointed out that having Jim McMahon as a teammate, that he had previously seen a quarterback involved in a similar scuffle.
But McMahon wasn’t nearly so central to his team’s chances of winning, either.
