The New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers' joint practices have gotten off to a fiery start. A large brawl broke out yesterday afternoon that resulted in Kendrick Bourne, Kristian Wilkerson, and Kenny Robinson getting ejected. Day two of joint practices has been more of the same, with Christian McCaffrey igniting another full-team brawl between both sides this morning.
There had already been a big dustup earlier this morning after Wilkerson got laid out by Robinson on a kickoff return and had to get carted off the field. With tempers high, Christian McCaffrey got hit late on a play shortly thereafter by Patriots defensive lineman Deatrich Wise, and McCaffrey was not happy. He threw the ball at Wise, which led to yet another large brawl between the two sides.
As a result of the fight, Wise, Robinson, and Chuba Hubbard were all ejected, with Hubbard seeming to jump in to back up his fellow running back Christian McCaffrey. Once again, pretty much everyone on both teams were involved, and this one even spilled into the stands right in front of the fans. Safe to say, it could have been much worse than it was.
The interesting piece is that the Panthers and Patriots still have to see a lot of each other throughout this week. Practice is still underway today, and they will partake in a preseason contest against each other on Friday night. Safe to say that this may not be the last fight we see between these two sides.
Fights aren't exactly abnormal at joint practices, but the Panthers and Patriots have already partaken in two or three full-scale brawls. It will be interesting to see whether the fighting continues as these two sides square off throughout the rest of the week.