Darnell Dockett Spat on Kerry Rhodes For Wanting to Allow Jets to Score
By Josh Hill
The object of playing football is usually to score more points than the other guys and make sure he stays out of the endzone. But on occasion allowing the other team to score is a wise strategy, as in certain scenarios it gives a team more time to tie a game up. That was the case on Sunday when the Cardinals wanted to allow the Jets to extend their 7-6 lead to a 14-6 lead, something that would give the offense ample time to try and tie the game back up at 14-14.
Allowing a team to score goes against the grain of everything a defensive player has been taught, and while some get it, others are starkly opposed to it. Darnell Dockett is starkly opposed to it and apparently if you try to tell him to let someone score he’s going to spit on you, even if you’re his teammate.
"The incident occurred late in the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals trailing 7-6 and the Jets driving. The Cardinals’ defense planned to let the Jets score a touchdown, which would have stretched the lead (with the extra point) to 14-6, and which would have given the Cardinals the ball back with a chance to force overtime.The only problem? Dockett didn’t want to let the Jets score. And so he resisted. And he resisted. And eventually, as Rhodes was trying to persuade Dockett to go along, Dockett let his saliva do the talking."
This is a really bad look for the Cardinals, a team that seemingly lucked its way into an undefeated start and has since become who we thought they were to begin with — a bad football team. Dockett has been disciplined internally by the Cardinals, and the NFL is not expected to get involved. Had Dockett spit on another player from another team, that’s a violation of league rules.
But apparently it’s okay to spit on your own teammate — good to know NFL, good to know.