The Cowboys and Saints were fined after players from the two teams fought at a joint practice this week and two other clubs could be hearing from the league as well.
Reporters at Thursday’s Dolphins-Giants practice said the session had to be stopped multiple times because of skirmishes between players from the two teams. Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson and Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor were removed from the practice because of their involvement in fights that also included Giants backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
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“You’re not trying to do that, but it’s just football,” Giants head coach John Harbaugh said, via a transcript from the team. “It’s not a game, so you don’t have the same, quite, guardrails on it. And it’s a violent game. And so, in this sort of an environment, you have these rules of engagement that aren’t really rules of the game. And then somebody perceives somebody else goes over the line, or they do go over the line, and somebody needs to protect somebody, and that’s where it goes. And I think as long as it doesn’t get out of control where we get a violent type of situation, it’s fine. We decided that anybody that threw a punch in those scrimmages would be treated like the game. That’s why Jermaine didn’t practice toward the end. He didn’t really throw a hard punch, but it was to the facemask, and that’ll get you in the game. So, that’s a 15-yarder at least. So, we decided that we were following those rules of engagement, and that’s what we did with that one.”
The league can fine teams for practices going over the line, but players can only be fined by their clubs. We’ll see if the Dolphins and Giants join the Cowboys and Saints in receiving punishment as well as if they’ll penalize their players for going too far.
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