NFL News: Pittsburgh Steelers deny coach’s altercation with New England Patriots fan on opening night
The Pittsburgh Steelers have released a statement to deny that their coach James Daniel got into an altercation with a New England Patriots fan during the NFL season opener on Thursday.
It was earlier reported that Daniel had kicked the fan and yelled at him while making his way to the team’s locker room at halftime on Thursday. The incident is reportedly being investigated by the NFL.
According to a report by ESPN, which claimed to have confirmation from witnesses, Daniel kicked the Patriots fan in the back of the leg and yelled at him, before making his way to the locker room where he met by NFL security and local police. The incident is reportedly being investigated by the NFL.
Once witnesses of the incident had identified him, Daniel was reportedly asked by the police to change his behaviour, to which Daniel responded aggressively by shouting at the police officer as well. No video footage has been captured of the alleged kicking incident or the confrontation with police.
While the NFL has already started looking into the matter, the Steelers have already completed their own investigation into the incident and found Daniels to be innocent of all allegations.
“We have conducted an internal inquiry into the alleged incident involving assistant coach James Daniel at the Patriots stadium Thursday night. After interviews with Coach Daniel as well as other personnel who witnessed the alleged encounter, we find no corroboration that Coach Daniel was involved in any physical altercation with a fan," team president Art Rooney II said in a statement released on the Steelers’ website.
James Daniel has worked with the Steelers for the past 12 years as tight ends coach, and he has no previous history of being involved in any altercation. It remains to be seen, however, what view the NFL takes of the alleged incident.
The Steelers lost 28-21 to the Patriots, the reigning NFL champions who were trying to put the "Deflategate" incident behind them.
The opening game did not go as smoothly as expected, however, with the Steelers’ headsets facing communications problems, with some pointing fingers towards the Patriots yet again.
The NFL, however, was quick to clear them, claiming that communication equipment was provided to both teams by the NFL and not the home team. The headset issues were attributed to electrical interference from the stadium’s power system and inclement weather.
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