Joint practices are usually fertile ground for fights, and physical play for the real games begin.
In the last week alone, joint practices between teams have turned into brutal fisticuffs, with many fights boiling over in just a single practice. The league office has not only taken notice but moved quickly to ensure it doesn’t become a thing across the league.
Giants and Lions Fined for Fighting During Joint Practices
The biggest fights of joint practices this week came courtesy of the New York Giants and Detroit Lions. A total of three fights took place on Aug. 5, with even quarterback Daniel Jones getting in the middle of the fights.
The chatter all over social media from today’s joint practice between the Giants and Lions, aside from the catch by Malik Nabers:
3 separate fights that broke out between the Giants and Lions players, one of which involved Daniel Jones getting in the middle of and another had… pic.twitter.com/UOr7gotQKe
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) August 6, 2024
If that wasn’t enough, the Lions and Giants went at it again multiple times just a day later, causing practice to be halted multiple times throughout the day.
Fireworks and fights are back! #giants Rookie Malik Nabers and #lions Kerby Joseph throwing punches pic.twitter.com/QHqUt7s2Yx
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) August 6, 2024
The NFL moved swiftly to make sure other teams don’t follow suit. The Giants and Lions were each fined $200,000 for their roles in each fight, and a memo was sent to every other team specifically stating that “fighting and unprofessional conduct at joint practices would not be tolerated,” per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Why was this important? Because other teams are about to hit the practice field with other organizations soon.
NFL’s Warning to Joint Practicing Teams
The New York Jets and Washington Commanders are about to kick off joint practices on Thursday. The Jets had three separate scuffles during Tuesday’s practice, but all were quickly quelled by players and coaches.
Still, it’s different when you are going up against a different team.
“It’s the same thing we always tell our guys, we’re just trying to get better, trying to compete,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said Wednesday. “You’re going to get into these shoving matches, but like I’ve told our guys, if you throw a punch you’re kicked out of a game, so don’t do it in practice.”
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Saleh spoke just a day earlier about the differences between fights can sometimes simply be how they are done. The Jets have respect for the likes of the Commanders as they begin their new regime under Dan Quinn, and there’s little animosity between teams that are not only not on the schedule for 2024 but aren’t even in the same conference.
A reason for the likelihood of the Jets not having to deal with fights like the Giants and Lions is the other difference in the use of joint practice. Big Blue and the Lions went through two days of joint work and plenty of fighting followed the second day as much as the first.
To a coach like Saleh and Quinn, that’s no accident. It’s why the Jets only have a single joint practice day between their upcoming preseason opponents instead of two or three.
“One joint practice, to me, is plenty. I find that two is when guys get hurt, and that’s when traditionally the fights stop happening,” Saleh explained Tuesday. “At the end of the day, one team is celebrating their victory, and the other is talking about how they got their butts whooped. On top of it, these practices are pretty heavy on the guys, and very rarely do you have a football player go through that much volume and intensity on back-to-back days.
“Not only are you subjecting our guys to injury on Day 2, and it’s just very little production because they’re fighting and aborting their techniques.”
Getting little production is one thing. Having a hefty fine to play is something entirely apart.
The NFL has let the Lions and Giants be examples in this case.
Now it’s up to the rest of the league to fall in line.