Another brawl broke out between the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots during their second joint practice on Wednesday. The teams were engaged in brawls for two consecutive days where multiple players were kicked out.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Giardi, the brawl broke out when Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey was tackled by Patriots defensive end Deatrich Wise near the sideline on the first play of 11-on-11 drills. McCaffrey then threw the ball at Wise and what followed was a fight between both teams.
Wise and Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard were ejected from the session. Hubbard was kicked out of the facility for an entirely different fight, as per Yahoo Sports’ Tyler Greenawalt.
The fight
The fight that broke out during the drills on Wednesday was a follow-up to their first encounter on Tuesday. The beef between both teams confused fans as they barely played against each other.
However, the muscle contest between the two came ahead of their upcoming preseason matchup on Friday this week.
Unlike Tuesday, according to ESPN, a fan was injured on Wednesday as the fight reached the stands. A woman suffered a swollen foot after Wise accidentally landed on her. Wise and McCaffrey later approached the fan to apologize. New England also offered her a ticket to a game this season. She refused treatment from the Patriots’ medical team.
“I’ve never been a part of a joint practice where there’s not one of those [fights]. It’s not about how it’s going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen,” McCaffrey said.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule also apologized for how the event transpired.
“I’d love to be talking about two-minute [drills] right now and Sam [Darnold] scrambling and making an excellent throw. There’s a lot of football things that matter way more to me, but distractions affect you and that’s what we can’t do,” he said.
“It’s already getting chippy at Patriots-Panthers practice today after a big fight yesterday. Panthers S Kenny Robinson laid out Patriots WR Kristian Wilkerson in a special teams drill, causing more pushing and shoving. Next play caused another fight with big punches thrown,” wrote Chad Graff, the Patriots writer for The Athletic.
Another fight also took place on the other side of the field. There were multiple accounts from various reports, but the event involved Patriots wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson and Panthers safety Kenny Robinson. The former was reportedly either down following a non-contact injury or a “kickoff return” caused by Robinson, as per ProFootballTalk’s Myles Simmons. Robinson was ejected from the field for the second straight time, while Wilkerson had to be carted off the session.
After the event, the team’s head coaches, the Patriots’ Bill Belichick and Rhule were reported to have a meeting to discuss the possibilities of joint practices in the future.
Previously on Tuesday, Graff said that players of both teams were exchanging punches. Wilkerson, Robinson, and New England WR Kendrick Bourne were kicked out of the session. Not long after, Carolina defensive tackle Phil Hoskins was knocked off the ground by Patriots center James Ferentz. This prompted yet another fight, and both players were escorted out of the practice.