Maybe I’m missing something here. Maybe coaches like what a “joint” practice can bring out in a team. I don’t really know what that could possibly be, though. Extra competitiveness? Aren’t these some of the most competitive people on planet Earth?
I don’t know. I’m trying to find some kind of reason why the NFL keeps doing this. What sense does it make?
What happened Thursday during a joint practice between the Bengals and Rams was pretty brutal and had an extra touch of deja vu for us Pittsburgher. Aaron Donald ended up with a Bengals helmet in his hand and swinging it over the top of a crowd of players, seemingly head hunting his opponent.
It’s ugly. I love Aaron Donald but man, that’s baaaad look.
But a fight at a joint practice isn’t a novel concept. In fact, it’s almost a guarantee that it’s going to happen when two teams get together like this when there’s no other governing body watching over the proceedings except themselves. It’s a little different when there’s officials and king Roger Goodell is watching.
I merely Google’d “joint practice fights NFL” before writing this. I read you some headlines…
“Panthers-Patriots frustrated by fights derailing joint practices”- August 17th
“FIGHT! Falcons-Jets involved in joint practice dust-up” -6 days ago
“LOOK: Lions and Colts fight during joint practice” -August 17th
That’s just this year. You can go back and look at others like Jets-Giants one 17 years ago where the fights were “out of control” according to reports. There are countless others over the years.
So…why are we doing this again?
It would be more understandable to do this in college football where they don’t have ANY games or opponents to play before the regular season starts. I could follow the logic to where you want to just play/practice against anyone outside of your own team before you get thrown into the fire.
But the NFL has 3 opportunities where they get into a stadium and play someone else. In a much more controlled environment.
Again, I’m no NFL coach. I guess there’s some different level of evaluation that happens during these practices when you’re playing against another team. Maybe there’s some kind of team-building they like in going against another team in practice.
But it can’t be worth the headache of breaking up inevitable fights or subjecting, in this case, your best player in Aaron Donald, to a fight where somebody could dive at his knees or take some other cheap shot either before, during or after a fight.
To me it just seems like a really dumb idea and I don’t see the purpose it serves.. I thought that before Thursday’s brawl and it really hit home after seeing it.
And I’m glad the Steelers usually don’t participate.