Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and the Patriots’ Jerod Mayo were on the same page entering their first and only joint practice of the week: No brawling.
The players did not exactly get the message.
A fight broke out in the middle of Tuesday’s practice during team kickoff drills. The Eagles were returning kicks when a large mass of bodies converged. Multiple reporters tweeted that Eagles TE E.J. Jenkins was among those in the middle of the scuffle.
The skirmish had been brewing from the play before, when the Patriots’ Raekwon McMillan landed a monster hit on Isaiah Rodgers that forced a fumble. Eagles coaches and players let it be known they were not pleased with the extra physicality.
Still, both coaches told members of the media before practice that there would be repercussions for players who pick a fight.
“No fights,” Sirianni said. “You’re coming out here to work, and you’re coming out here to get good reps. There’s no fights in games, right? You never see big brawls in games, but for some reason you see them at practices. So our job is to come out here and handle ourselves just like a game.”
Sirianni did not elaborate on how a player would be punished for fighting. Mayo, the first-year coach of the Patriots, set a firm expectation with his team:
Due to circumstances like the short turnaround between games, new practice rules geared toward player safety, and Sirianni being a stickler about participating in joint practices prior to Week 1 of the preseason, 1-on-1 practice sessions like this will be rare for the Eagles during the rest of training camp.
But brawling and balling go hand-and-hand at NFL joint practices these days. If teams really want to fight back against fighting, they’ll have to start hitting players harder in the wallet for first and second offenses.
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