FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Things got chippy at a joint practice between the Panthers and Patriots, resulting in multiple fights and several player ejections.
Panthers defensive players Kenny Robinson and Phil Hoskins were ejected for fighting after a team melee broke out between Carolina’s offense and New England’s defense.
It’s unclear what started the fight, but chaos ensued after a Damien Harris rushing attempt ended near the left sideline in a pile of bodies.
Multiple players were throwing punches, which resulted in Robinson and Patriots wide receivers Kristian Wilkerson and Kendrick Bourne being ejected from practice.
A few plays later, a second altercation broke out when Patriots center James Ferentz drove linebacker Frankie Luvu out of bounds while blocking downfield. Hoskins was involved in the post-play dispute and was ejected along with Ferentz.
Coaches Matt Rhule and Bill Belichick were noticeably upset with their respective clubs after things calmed down. Both coaches called their teams up before resuming practice.
Belichick was on the sideline coaching his first-team defense. Rhule was on the other field with his first-team offense, away from the action.
“We came here not to fight. We came to practice,” Rhule said. “It shows the maturity of a lot of other guys that didn’t escalate it into a bigger thing.”
Safety Jeremy Chinn was near the action but said he did not see exactly what sparked it.
“We don’t want to do that. It wastes a lot of time,” Chinn said. “It’s not a good thing to be fighting over and over again. We want to get the reps, and we want to be able to practice and play ball at the end of the day. So that’s not something that we’re trying to do at all.”
Robinson and Hoskins will both be able to practice on Wednesday. Rhule said he and Belichick spoke before Tuesday in anticipation of altercations occurring.
“Coach Belichick talked about if fights happen, we’ll just throw those guys out,” he said, “and hopefully eliminate future fights.”
