Sports fans love some drama, so it’s little surprise that video of Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown chasing down Michael Thomas after the New Orleans Saints won Monday night’s game in Charlotte went viral on social media. Brown can be seen shouting at Thomas and being restrained by a Panthers staffer, with the Saints star taunting his defeated opponent on his way out of the building.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen acknowledged the incident on Tuesday afternoon, chalking it up to a simple misunderstanding on Thomas’ part. Allen said he was informed about the fracas after the fact.
Buy Saints Tickets“I think what kind of happened, Mike got a little discombobulated and he went through their tunnel, he was obviously trying to make his way back to our locker room. Looked like they took offense to that,” Allen shared.
He added: “I don’t think there was anything on Mike’s part where he did anything wrong. That tunnel is right there on our sideline, he just exited that tunnel, not really being aware of that. I don’t think too much of it.”
Allen said that the dustup wasn’t related to anything that happened during the game, so it sounds like Brown simply got in his feelings over a rival strutting around on his home turf. That’s a shame. If he’d brought that energy during the game maybe the Saints wouldn’t have been left pointing at the scoreboard.
Update: NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill reports that Thomas used that tunnel to access “a medical checkup room” at Bank of America Stadium, which is standard procedure for players on both teams. It had been previously reported that Brown chased Thomas into the venue’s X-ray room so this tracks. As Allen said, Thomas wasn’t in the wrong here. Brown needs to keep a cooler head.
