It took a few weeks, but the New Orleans Saints finally experienced their first fight at training camp. And it didn’t happen outside under the Louisiana sun.
Starting center Erk McCoy and veteran defensive tackle Nathan Shepherd got locked up at practice in the Caesars Superdome on Friday, with McCoy losing his helmet in the scrum; that prompted second-year left tackle Trevor Penning to leap in, which escalated things further once defensive end Carl Granderson got involved.
The good news is that no one got hurt, and head coach Dennis Allen acted quickly to break it up and use this as a teaching moment before getting back to practice. He shared his message to the team during a post-practice press conference with the media, saying “If we want to act like boxers we’ll start training like boxers, and get on the side and run.”
It sure sounds like the Saints are ready to try hitting some other team’s players. Penning was known for playing with a mean streak at the college level, and he brought it with him to the NFL. Last summer he was involved in a couple of dust-ups with teammates and at one point was ejected from practice for taking it too far. Football is a violent, emotional sport, but there’s a point where indulging those impulses hurts your team. It’s good to see Allen is working to manage it.
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