Tampa, Fla. - Anger flared up on Day 2 of joint practice in Tampa between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans, resulting in five brawls, which had to be broken up despite both Bucks coach Bruce Arian and Titans coach Mike Wrabel expressing zero tolerance. Fighting before practices.
Books inside linebacker Devin White said, "Too many older men compete with emotion. Things happen. Just have to protect their brothers."
Books cornerback Jamel Dean said: "It's hot, it's intense and we're just competitive. Yesterday I felt like we didn't play to our standards, so there was a lot of emphasis on getting out there today."
Several Bux players echoed Dean's sentiments, saying they felt like the Titans practiced with greater intensity on Wednesday. But there was a turnaround on Thursday, with the Bucs showing the upper hand, as Arian indicated that the starters would not play on Saturday and needed to show their effort in practice on Thursday.
"The intensity was very high today," said wide receiver Chris Godwin. "I feel like it's always been like this on the second day of joint practice in the heat, the anger kind of ran out, and the guys were just competitive."
Vrubel said: "It sucked. From what I saw, we didn't do very well aggressively. I don't think we competed like we did yesterday. Maybe too many reasons. But just not good enough. Clearly they're better today." We'll see how we respond and go on coaching and playing on Saturday."
Things got heated quickly.
During a face-off against Titans cornerback Chris Jackson, Bucks wide receiver Antonio Brown complained that he was being held. Brown confronted Jackson, tearing off his helmet and throwing punches, before Clayton Gathers attempted to break it. Bucks training camp intern Louis Murphy pulled Brown away from Jackson. Brown left the practice for a while to cool off before returning.
This was followed by a dust-up during a punt period between Titans wide receiver Fred Brown and Bucks cornerback Herb Miller, who was taken to the ground, with Brown on top. Then, in another special team game, Books in linebacker K.J. Britt and Titans linebacker Nick Dzubner had to part ways.
During a run play, Titans wide receiver Cam Batson and White wrestled on the field, although White said he was only defending a teammate. Wrabel ran to try to intervene when teammates laid siege.
White said, "I was just trying to help one of my brothers. I saw one of my brothers being thrown around, so I tried to help him—that's all." "We're all tossing and turning. ... I really don't know, it was one of our corners, one of our DB's, a safety or something. It was after a run play. I Couldn't really tell you. Feelings were going. You see your same color jersey with two other jerseys that are the opposite color - you just want to help your guy."
The fifth scuffle ensued when defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons overtook Leonard Fournet with the Bux, which Simmons didn't let go of, and Bux center Ryan Jensen retaliated.
"The coaches talked about it yesterday before we got out here for the first time," Simmons said. "It's football. It's competitive. There's a lot of people who want to compete. We're competing for jobs, [a] spot so he can get there. It's the game of football, the highest competitive sports It's one of the world. There are people out there cheating, people talking smack or whatever it may be. But we don't want punches being thrown or anything like that."
Later on Thursday, Fournette posted a video to her Instagram story in which she called Brown the "heavyweight champion" for their scuffle, which both erupted in laughter.
Despite both coaches taking a tough stance on fighting before practice, they downplayed Thursday's incidents.
"Fight? I didn't see any fight," said Arion. "A lot of pushing and shoving. I didn't see any fists though."
With the practices occurring simultaneously in several areas, it is possible that Ariane did not see Brown throwing the punches. But it was caught on camera because it happened during the part of the exercise that was open to still photography. Asked specifically about Brown, Arian said, "No. Waving flies."
Asked if he would issue a penalty if, when he goes back and looks at the tape, it looks like punches were thrown or things got out of hand, Ariane shook his head.
Wrabel let the play down, as did Titans veteran guard Roger Saffold.
Wrabel said, "Our job is to perform football plays. Be it sidebars or brawls." "I get it. It's hot out there. People are competing and trying to finish. Those things come out."
"I'm too old, man. I look at it and say, 'Maybe I'll get there.' But no, it's 50 yards so I just chilled out and rested," Saffold said. "I mean, it's part of the game. They came under fire today. We had really good practice yesterday. That's what you want to see. People compete. It's hot. There's a lot of push. But as long as nobody The punches were thrown we are good."