It is that time of year for preseason joint practices to descend into madness and that is exactly what happened between the Detroit Lions and New York Giants in New Jersey.
Both benches cleared on Monday morning after Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and Giants rookie cornerback Dru Phillips began mixing it up. During the play, the two entangled while St. Brown caught a pass from quarterback Jared Goff and then pushed Phillips off of him after the play was whistled down.
New York safety Dane Belton proceeded to get in the face of St. Brown and punch the ball out of his grasp, prompting the Lions receiver to deliver a high push toward the head of the defender.
Multiple Giants players surrounded St. Brown, which sparked multiple Lions to run to their teammates’ defense.
Cornerback Mario Goodrich was seen throwing punches and Tre Hawkins aggressively threw a Detroit player to the ground amidst the scuffle to exacerbate the situation before things ultimately cooled down.
FIGHT AT GIANTS LIONS PRACTICE
(h/t @KayvonOjulari)pic.twitter.com/05tqHB6T8O
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 5, 2024
Big Blue’s offense and the Lions’ defense had gotten into a scuffle earlier in the morning, which included Daniel Jones mixing it up with members of Detroit’s defensive line. Just one play earlier, New York head coach Brian Daboll had expressed his displeasure about Jones getting his arm hit by a Lions pass-rusher.
“A situation happens like that, you try to stand up for your guys,” Jones said. “I thought it was good competitive practice all day today and we made some plays and did some good things. There are some things we need to shore up, for sure, but good intensity and competitive spirit today.”
“Oh Lord, Daniel got jiggy with it?” star pass rusher Brian Burns asked when he was alerted of Jones’ involvement. “Daniel was out there with it? I’m going to need him to back up, let his O-Line handle that. But Daniel, he’s a competitor, man. He’s a fighter. I don’t expect anything less from him but I don’t need him in that. I don’t need him to get hit. Keep him healthy.”
These teams open up their preseason schedule on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium. Kick-off is at 7 p.m. ET.
“I’d just rather not fight,” Burns said. “I’d rather not waste energy breaking up fights. Just because you’re fighting doesn’t mean you don’t have another three plays after that. So that definitely can have you exhausted.”
