Noah Fant reacts to being shoulder-checked by Raiders coach: 'That was very unprofessional'

This is why Noah Fant threw the ball at and shoved that Raiders coach#BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/FXkeBHtdwc

— Ryan Greene (@RyanCBS4) January 3, 2021

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In the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos tight end Noah Fant caught a pass and ran out of bounds before being bumped by a Raiders employee. It was an uncalled for and dangerous act that could have injured Fant.

“That’s never happened to me before,” Fant said Monday. “I thought that was very unprofessional — I’m not sure what coach does that. I’ve heard a plethora of things like, ‘he was trying to catch you’ — he went out of his way to shoulder me and it totally turned me. I feel like I acted accordingly.

“I don’t believe that I should have had some sort of maturity and said, ‘I’m going to be the bigger man’ — as I’m coming off the field I should never be shoulder checked by a coach, if that, even a player. I was disappointed in myself for hitting him with the ball, but things happened in the game so hopefully we can move on from that.”

Fant reacted by throwing a football and shoving the coach, an act that wasn’t penalized. Fant took that as confirmation that the official understood the tight end’s reaction

“There was no flag thrown in retaliation,” Fant said. “The ref saw exactly what he did, so I feel that understanding was from both sides as far as the ref understood where I was coming from and saw the whole situation. If the league decides to fine things like that — I know if I would have really shoved him or done something really harmful to him, then I would have gotten fined, but that’s up to the league to decide.

“I’m not really worried about what a Raiders coach decides to do on the sideline, I’m just going to act accordingly throughout the game. When I’m out there competing, I’m not worried about feelings on the football field.”

Fant ended his second season with 62 receptions for 673 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 102 catches, 1,235 receiving touchdowns and six touchdowns on his resume.