The Detroit Lions had a scrimage-style practice last Friday to get to get ready for two days of joint practices against the New York Giants before Thursday night's preseason openr. Coaches value these kind of joint practices a lot these days, and perhaps none more than Lions' head coach Dan Campbell.
There's a natural ramp up to going against an opponent in a practice session. Tempers flare at times going against each other during camp practices, and going against a different-colored jersey adds kindling to those fires.
Before Monday's session against the Giants, Campbell pointed to the joint practices being evaluated like a game.
"I told them, ‘Man, like we always do. We’re competing and we’re not pulling back. But this will be evaluated like a game, so if you do something that’s going to cost us in a game, that’s part of your evaluation,’” Campbell said. “But we’ve got to go, we’ve got to get better, we can’t just be tiptoeing either.”
But there's always a balance between high intensity and when things go a little too far with a ramp up in preparation. On Monday, things toed (or even crossed) that line between the Lions and the Giants. There were some big hits, but
Things get extra chippy at Lions-Giants joint practice (videos)
It didn't take long for the first fight to occur during Monday's practice, with Lions' wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown at the center of it.
And of course there were clips from fans and reporters showing the fight.
The final scrum of Monday's practice took place close enough to Giants' general manager Joe Schoen that he had a role in trying to break it up.
Lions' reporters had the expected reaction to Monday's proceedings, with some going so far to offer a tally of how many fights there were.
The sheer intensity of Monday's practice was not surprising. But with that as the start, what will Tuesday's session between the Lions and the Giants bring? It feels like players will get a good talking to from coaches about crossing the line between being intense and not being smart. interrupting practice so often that the fights could be counted is a detriment to getting good work in.