New England Patriots first-year head coach Jerod Mayo issued a strange warning to his players ahead of Tuesday’s joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles regarding fighting.
“You don’t fight in a real game. When you fight in a real game, you get fined, you get kicked out. It’s the same thing here,” Mayo said. “My message to the players (is), you get in a fight out here, if you’re a starter, you’re going to play the whole preseason game. If you’re not a starter, you won’t play at all. So that’s kind of my mindset with that.”
Maybe the message that Mayo is giving to non-starters makes some sense, as they’re usually trying to earn playing time and extra reps, so being benched is typically viewed as a punishment.
What he says about the ramifications for starters getting in a brawl doesn’t make as much sense though. Should fans believe that players don’t want to suit up in the preseason, even though the games are meaningless? It’s often the case that starters, especially the big-name players, say they hope to get some extra live reps prior to the regular season starting.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was also adamant about his players not getting involved in any extracurricular activities during joint practice with the Patriots.
New England and Philadelphia will play each other in their second preseason contests at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Joint practice brawls have been a growing issue across the NFL in recent summers.
During an August 2022 joint practice between the Patriots and Carolina Panthers, there were multiple ejections and a fan was injured. Then last August, New York Jets cornerbacks coach Tony Oden was taken to the hospital after finding himself in the middle of a training camp fight between Gang Green and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Both the Detroit Lions and New York Giants were fined $200,000 last week after taking part in a bevy of joint practice brawls.
