On January 11, the Jacksonville Jaguars suffered a tough loss to Buffalo Bills in an NFL playoff game.
However, for once, it wasn’t what happened on the field that caused a stir online.
Instead, it was comments during the post-game press conference that left social media embroiled in a debate.
Following the game, Jacksonville Free Press associate editor Lynn Jones-Turpin was given the chance to speak to Jaguars head coach Liam Coen during his press conference.
Instead of asking a probing question about what happened in the game or where Coen planned to go from there, Jones-Turpin instead took the time to compliment Coen on his overall coaching throughout the season.
“I’m going to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man,” Jones-Turpin said. “You hold your head up. You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval. You keep it going. We got another season.”
Coen thanked Jones-Turpin for her remarks before continuing on with the rest of the press conference.
Video footage of the interaction between the pair then began to circulate online, particularly on X, formerly known as Twitter, soon afterwards.
While some users found the video to be a sweet and kind moment of humanity in sports, others pointed out that, as press, Jones-Turpin was there to get important information, not console members of a team she is a fan of.
ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter posted the footage to X referring to it as “an awesome post-game exchange.”
However, Tashan Reed, Commanders reporter for the Washington Post, responded to the post, saying, “I promise the last thing we need is more reporters acting like fans.”
“Look, it’s a kind sentiment, but it’s not the job of a reporter to console a coach in a postgame press conference. Pressers are to ask questions to gain a better understanding of what happened or figure out what’s next — and do it in a limited amount of time,” added Brooke Pryor, an ESPN NFL reporter.
On Instagram, Sport Illustrated posted the footage alongside a short explanation of the controversy, prompting sports fans to leave their opinions in the comments.
“Only in today’s world would being kind to someone draw criticism,” one fan commented on the post.
“Why is the world so negative?? Then get mad at every sign of positive energy,” another fan pointed out.
“The coach seems really happy to hear it and maybe needed that. Screw what everyone else thinks, she did a good deed. Everyone is being selfish about it,” another commenter chimed in.
