FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Tension was high almost immediately when the Carolina Panthers and New England patriots players began to practice on Tuesday. Panthers defensive players practiced with a chip on their shoulder and didn’t shy away from contact with the Patriots’ wide receivers.
Before you knew it, mayhem ensued.
The first day of Patriots-Panthers joint practices featured two fights, including one giant brawl that ended with three players being ejected. Five players in total, including three Patriots, were tossed from Tuesday’s practice.
Here’s how things reached a boiling point between the two sides:
Tensions run high between Patriots, Panthers
Problems started during full-team drills. In the second period, Kristian Wilkerson caught a pass from Mac Jones. When the whistle blew, however, a couple of defensive backs refused to let go of Wilkerson’s jersey, and the receiver was seen talking to both Panthers players.
In the next period, Wilkerson caught a pass from Jones near the left sideline. As he went out of bounds, a defensive player held on to his jersey. Wilkerson was clearly talking to the player, and that’s when he was shoved by an unidentified Panthers assistant coach. As the receiver turned, he was grabbed by multiple Panthers players and later punched.
As that happened, a Patriots offensive player rushed into the pile. Soon after, Kendrick Bourne was squaring up and throwing punches with another Panthers defensive back.
When the dust settled, Bourne and Wilkerson were kicked out of practice along with Panthers safety Kenny Robinson.
“We came here not to fight. We came here to practice,” said Panthers head coach Matt Rhule. “It shows maturity in a lot of other guys that it didn’t escalate into a big thing.”
The action didn’t stop there.
After the next play, it appeared that Trent Brown and Panthers defensive end Brian Burns were exchanging words. Coaches on both sides were screaming, “Just play football.”
The fun didn’t stop there, either.
Soon enough, Patriots center James Ferentz and Panthers defensive tackle Phil Hoskins were fighting after the whistle, again near the Carolina sideline. It appeared Hoskins slammed Ferentz to the ground. Patriots guard Arlington Hambright was the first Patriots player to jump in.
Ferentz and Hoskins were ejected after that.
Physical practice ends with fights
It wasn’t a surprise to see the fights happen. As practice began, Panthers players were very physical. Carolina defensive backs punched out three footballs in four pass plays. Panthers defensive players were very loud and clearly trash talking the Patriots offense.
Practice cooled off a bit after that, but Patriots defensive players seemed to get the better of the Panthers offense at the end of practice. Jalen Mills and several other Patriots defensive players had to be pulled away from the competition.
Patriots offense looks solid while defense dominates Panthers
The first day of the Patriots-Panthers joint practice was an eventful one.
Jones handled himself well in this practice. It wasn’t perfect for the offense, but the Patriots quarterback completed 21 of 30 pass attempts to go with a late-practice interception. In 7-on-7s, Jones completed 6-of-9 passes.
Jones’ top targets on the day were DeVante Parker (five catches), Jakobi Meyers (four), Rhamondre Stevenson (four) and Ty Montgomery (three). He also hit Nelson Agholor (two), Jonnu Smith (two), Bourne (two), Wilkerson (two), Tyquan Thornton (one), Devin Asiasi (one) and Matt Sokol (one). Out of his nine incomplete passes, four were deflected, two overthrown, one was a throwaway, another a drop and one interception.
The interception happened during the Patriots’ 2-minute drill. Jones was 4-of-7 in this period. His final attempt by him was a “got-to-have-it” situation where time was expiring and the offense needed a touchdown. It looked like he would’ve been sacked, but Jones tossed the ball up to the end zone – like a Hail Mary – and linebacker Frankie Luvu came down with the football.
Parker made the play of the day. The receiver jumped over Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson to haul in a 30-yard deep ball from Jones.
“If the ball is in the air, it’s mine,” said Parker, who noted his mindset with ’50/50′ balls is that its “80/20” in his favor.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism