National Football League

McDaniels apologizes for Thanksgiving profanity

Published Dec. 5, 2009 1:39 p.m. ET

foxsports

After realizing that more than 6 million viewers heard him curse out his players on Thanksgiving night, Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels has issued an apology. McDaniels said he was sorry that two obscenities were accidentally aired by the NFL Network during the Broncos' 26-6 win over the New York Giants on Thursday night. The network immediately apologized for its mistake; after the game McDaniels brushed off the incident, saying: "It's the NFL Network. Doesn't surprise me." Five days later, McDaniels began his Tuesday news conference, his first since the game, by saying: "I want to make sure I apologize for anybody that was offended with the language that I used the other night on the sideline during the game." McDaniels was hollering at his penalty-plagued offense after a promising drive was spoiled by three false starts after the Broncos had reached first-and-goal. They settled for a field goal, and an NFL Network camera operator swooped in to film one of the league's most demonstrative coaches holler at his team. Although it was taped, nobody in the trucks caught the profanities to bleep them out before they were played back after the commercial. One of the two obscenities the NFL Network aired was clearly audible to viewers. McDaniels wasn't miked; the cameras picked up the audio. The network immediately apologized both on the air and in the press box and said Friday that it was investigating procedures to see how it happened and put in safeguards to assure it won't happen again. McDaniels doesn't want the hassle, either. "I certainly didn't intend for that to come across in that fashion. I hope that never happens again and I'll try my best to make sure that it doesn't from my end," McDaniels said. "But anybody that was offended by that, young or old, I know that's not the kind of example that I want to set or we want to set here with the Broncos organization and would ask people to accept that apology for that incident." Also Tuesday, McDaniels said he accepted an apology from San Diego linebacker Shaun Phillips for taunting him before the Chargers' 32-3 win at Invesco Field on Nov. 22. "Sure," McDaniels said. "We're moving on." For several days after his confrontation with Phillips, McDaniels declined to tell his side of the story, and that led to widespread criticism from players and coaches alike after Phillips said McDaniels taunted him by saying, "We own you!" during warmups. Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark said players should be allowed to respond with fists when taunted by a coach. In the face of that mounting criticism, McDaniels told ESPN over the weekend that Phillips, renowned for his trash talk, confronted him and taunted him as he came out of the tunnel before the game. McDaniels said his response was meant to imply that McDaniels' former team, the New England Patriots, had always made Phillips eat his words. Although the league declined to say if it was looking into the spat, McDaniels appears intent on putting the issue to rest, declining to go into details of the confrontation Tuesday with local reporters. "No. I talked about that the other day. Real briefly and, you know, just want to make sure that everybody was clear on that. I'm moving forward. I know the Chargers are moving forward and we're focused on the Chiefs," McDaniels said. The Broncos (7-4) visit Kansas City (3-8) on Sunday.