(Jason Hirschfeld/AP)
The Washington Redskins and Houston Texans were poised for a healthy, competitive joint practice today but it never came to fruition when two (almost three) intense brawls struck out, almost simultaneously. After the second one, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden and Texans Head Coach Bill O’Brien decided to separate the two teams and end practice early.
“Tempers flared,” Gruden said at his post-practice press conference. “I don’t know who started what. We tried as a staff — Coach O’Brien and myself — tried to make it clear that wasn’t acceptable behavior. Unfortunately, it wasn’t two people. It was a group of men that was escalated very quickly. For whatever reason, it escalated into a nasty brawl so we separated the teams just finished practice on our own.”
They did in fact keep Washington on the field closest to the 14,950 fans that attended training camp today and had Houston practicing on the far field.
It was hard to tell what happened actually because things went from energetic football to a serious fight really quickly. From the vantage point of this reporter (standing behind the end zone with the Redskins moving the ball in that direction), it looked like the ball was snapped, the players on both teams followed the action to my left and, the next thing, every player on both teams was moving as one toward the left sideline with everyone throwing punches. It appeared to be a full two or three minutes before coaches and referees could break the fight up. It was easy to see wide receiver Pierre Garçon in the fray as well as tight end Niles Paul (no surprise there what with their on-field demeanors) and… actually, the two teams’ first teams almost in their entirety were involved.
When the fight was finally over, the players began walking back to their respective groups. Suddenly, almost all were running over to the far field where another huge skirmish broke out. This one did not last as long but it was bad enough that the two coaches decided that the two teams could not practice together anymore that day.
It should be noted that the weather was not good at the time. All weather reports in Richmond leading up to the beginning of the practice had been of a sunny day and 80° to 85°. At the point the fights took place, it was raining pretty steadily and had been for a good 30-40 minutes.
The rest of the morning was spent with the Texans on the far side of the field working and the Redskins working on the near side, both running typical training camp 11-on-11’s and 11-on-9’s, etc.
Apparently, running back Chris Thompson – perhaps not knowing it would get so big – started the fight after cornerback Andre Hal got a little too mouthy.
“He hit me,” Thompson said, “and then I was kind of turned around this way and he was cursing at me and I got mad. I just ran through him again. You know me… It was the first play. And you know this team… we all got each other’s back.”
(This is a great example of why fans should not underestimate Thompson because of his size).
Garçon was one of the other players first addressed after practice having been so obviously involved. It would be an understatement to say his version was a little different than Thompsons and, what he said surprised a lot of people.
“Um… we’re trying to get practice to end early,” he said with a sly look in his eye. “That was the strategy. We had a ‘Players Only’ meeting and we were trying to get the practice to end, especially with the rain. But the coaches outsmarted us.”
To be honest, the first time he said those words, a lot of us laughed incredulously, hardly able to believe he what he was saying. He was asked in a few different ways by different people if tempers had flared during the week… had this been brewing because of something that happened during the week… was everyone overly tired, etc., etc. But the veteran wide out stuck with his story.
“It was the plan coming into effect, I’m telling you,” he said when asked if the second fight on the other field was just the guys all having each other’s backs, “It was literally, ‘let’s try to get this practice over with because it’s raining on the last day, we’re going to do red-zone, goal line, stuff like that so… instead of doing all that we tried to get it to end earlier.”
For all the talk of having each other’s backs, when asked whose idea it was, Garçon did throw one of his teammates under the bus.
“I think it was Chris Baker’s,” he said, laughing out loud.
Different people obviously had different perceptions about the scuffles and why they happened and the affect they had.
“There was a little scuffle here and there,” receiver Andre Roberts said about the fights. “You know, we’re physical. Both teams just trying to get out there, it’s the last day, we’re just trying to set the tone and, you know, we’re all men, we’re in camp going against each other so… things happen.”
In the end, Gruden was not happy about the events today because to him, they represent and opportunity to really see what he had on his team wasted as they went up against a team wearing something other than burgundy and gold. It would have been nice for the coach, obviously, to see quarterback Robert Griffin III and his new offensive line in some extended practice against a defensive star like Houston’s J.J. Watt.
“Yeah, I do,” Gruden said about feeling that good opportunities had been wasted. “On the other side, we had quite a few guys down, some guys taking a rest day today. We’re a little bit banged up and we need this day off tomorrow for our players to recover. I do wish we had that practice. We had some red zone, some two-minute, and some great situational work we were going to do today. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it done. Weather had probably a little bit to do with the energy levels of the players, I don’t know. It is what it is and we still got some work done though.”
Oh well. Boys will be boys.
Audio of Garçon’s interview and video of the skirmish will be up shortly.