16 October 2023 , 15:11
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When you hear of a player flooring an opponent in an NFL game, the last positional player that would be imagining inflicting the damage would be a punter, but that's exactly what happened on Sunday.
Carolina Panthers veteran Johnny Hekker seemed to lose his cool entirely, with his team losing to the Miami Dolphins. He seemed to get into an altercation with Dolphins pass-rusher Cameron Goode.
After a punt, Goode said something to Hekker who continued to walk towards the Dolphins player before pushing his head towards him - with Goode falling to the floor. Goode was seen smiling on the ground and was definitely not hurt in the play, but did his job with Hekker being penalised, with the Dolphins adding 15-yards to their drive.
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Speaking after the game, Hekker played down the headbutt, saying Goode made a good job of selling it. He said: "It was not a headbutt. There was no malintent. It was a moment where I was just walking up and having further conversation with the guy after the play.
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"Got close, maybe got baited a little bit. And he flopped back and fell backwards and took the ref out in the process. The ref took offense to that, threw the flag. Put myself in a bad situation. Really, I gotta own that. It was nothing worth pursuing. The play was dead and over. There was no reason to go back after guys.
"It’s frustration in the moment and you gotta do like when you’re taught like a kid—just walk away. You just gotta walk away." The punter has previous in getting into it with defensive players in the past, previously being flagged for a late hit on Pro Bowl pass-rusher Cliff Avril when he played with the St Louis Rams.
Johnny Hekker headbutted Cameron GoodeIt was an interesting game for Hekker, who also completed a pass on a fake punt - which he has attempted several in his career. The game started with an extremely surprising few first minutes, with rookie Bryce Young leading the team to a 14-0 start against the red-hot Dolphins - despite Carolina missing several key starters.
However, the Dolphins quickly turned it around and led at half-time, before going to win the game 42-21. Tua Tagovailoa scored three touchdowns and throwing for 262 yards in another impressive performance by the league leading offense.
The Panthers have the worst record in the league and are now the only team without a win.