The dog days of summer are in full effect, and NFL training camps are taking their toll.
Take, for instance, Tuesday’s joint practice between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints in Oxnard, California. The NFC rivals squared off for a full practice in pads. That meant competing, hitting and some guys performing for their jobs.
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The result was a scrimmage that was spicy throughout and eventually erupted to multiple big fights and the ejection of Cowboys defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku.
There was the normal pushing and shoving that should be expected from any sort of joint practice. This involved Saints wide receiver Chris Olave and Cowboys safety Malik Hooker, among others.
But things really got heated multiple times as full-on fights broke out between pretty much all the players on the field.
Helmets were tossed.
Bodies were slammed.
And punches were thrown.
That Cowboys player squaring up and throwing a right hook was Ezeiruaku. His intended target was Saints center Erik McCoy, who lost his helmet earlier in the scuffle. McCoy just happens to be the same guy who picked up a Cowboys helmet and tossed it in one of the other scuffles.
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Here’s that helmet toss from another angle.
The helmet toss and the body slam appeared to slip by without consequence. But for his punch, Ezeiruaku was ejected from practice.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer offered the obligatory disappointment with a player “going over the edge” and getting tossed. But the beginning of his post-practice answer to reporters more likely expresses his true feelings on the matter.
“We’re certainly not gonna take s*** from anybody,” Schottenheimer said.
He acknowledged that “it was chippy on both sides.”
When asked who won the fights, Cowboys safety Jalen Thompson offered a less restrained response, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota.
“Of course we did,” Thompson said. “Come on, now.”
