Earlier than at present’s joint apply between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals, Cincy head coach Zac Taylor, a former Rams assistant coach, had excessive hopes for his or her first face-to-face with the staff that hardly slipped previous them in Tremendous Bowl LVI.
“A lot simpler than doing this with some other staff within the league,” Taylor told reporters. “We all know what we’re in for. We all know how they apply.”
Ummm… yeah. Aaron Donald had different concepts.
Underneath searing 85-degree temperatures, Donald had no time for B.S. throughout their joint apply on Thursday afternoon after an offseason during which he casually entertained retirement on the quilt of Sports activities Illustrated,
In response to Cincinnati Enquirer Bengals reporter Charlie Goldsmith, their skirmish with the Rams was set off by newly-acquired left deal with La’el Collins throwing haymaker punches at Leonard Floyd on the finish of a play. In retaliation, Donald ripped the helmet off of the 6-foot-4, 315-pound La’el Collins. For good measure, Donald added one other helmet to his different hand, channeled his inside Unimaginable Hulk and commenced swinging downward from above his head at Bengals gamers.
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After the groups had been separated, each coaches ended the scrimmage. Effectively performed, Aaron.
Donald shouldn’t even be on the market. Does anyone suppose he wants the reps in a no-stakes joint apply on the age of 31? Additionally, who thought the Bengals and Rams matchup ought to happen IN THE PRESEASON?! My Deadspin colleague, Criss Partee, lately previewed the checklist of revenge video games in 2022 and you recognize who wasn’t on that checklist? The Rams and Bengals…
Joe Burrow is recent off an appendectomy, which led to him reducing weight. I get Cincy needed to see how their new offensive line for Joe Burrow fares, they needed to threat subjecting him to Donald’s quarterback bloodlust once more. At the least this time, he received to put on a purple no-contact jersey, which in all probability explains why Donald was so testy. The person simply needed to hit one thing.
From a macro perspective, it’s troublesome to inform if joint practices appear extra intense as a result of we haven’t seen them happen since 2019 earlier than the COVID pandemic compelled groups to isolate as a lot as potential or if starters are simply extra fired up after not attending to hit opposing gamers in joint apply environments since 2019. The latest spate of coaching camp fights has exemplified the ugly facet of joint practices. Probably the most intense melee happened of the offseason happened between the Patriots and Panther when a fan was injured after the shoving spilled into the bleachers, however it’s been a typical prevalence.
As a result of this isn’t the common season and a treasured quarterback wasn’t concerned, the NFL could not crack down harshly on Donald because it did on Myles Garrett two years in the past. However nothing is for sure when gamers swinging helmets are concerned.
As if that weren’t sufficient, joint practices in themselves are an insult to the NFL’s customers. The common value of a preseason ticket to an NFL recreation is $123.42. That’s a fraction of the typical common season ticket, which may price $800 and $400 within the secondary market. But the starters and Corridor of Famers are out right here saving their finest for daytime scrimmages?
The premise of joint practices is flawed. They’re basically organized earlier than preseason video games as a method of getting the starters concerned in high-intensity soccer towards an opposing staff. Methinks, the oldsters doling out money for a preseason contest would like to see the starters getting warmed up for the common season in one of many three preseason video games they pay to attend, not by way of selective clips from joint practices posted on Twitter in the course of the workday.
The league did simply high-quality with out joint practices for the final two seasons. Perhaps it’s time to rethink them fully.
