Patriots and Panthers fight yet again in second day of joint practices
BOSTON -- The Patriots and Panthers are not getting along.
One day after several fights broke out on the practice field between the two teams, emotions once again boiled over in Foxboro.
This time, Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey appears to have been a catalyst, as he threw a football at a Patriots player after getting tackled. As tends to happen when such things take place ... chaos ensued.
A melee on the first rep of #Panthers first team offense vs #Patriots first team defense. McCaffrey got tackled near the sideline, threw the ball at a defender and then all hell broke loose. Deatrich Wise appears to have been ejected. Bad look for both teams.
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 17, 2022
Tempers continue to flare at the Patriots/Panthers joint practice
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) August 17, 2022
via @MikeyInTheTruckpic.twitter.com/svsZrY98pP
The Patriots had also apparently taken offense to a hard hit that left Kristian Wilkerson injured. That hit came from Kenny Robinson, who fought with Wilkerson on Tuesday.
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.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) August 17, 2022
Kenny Robinson, who got kicked out of practice for fighting Kristian Wilkerson, just lit up Wilkerson in a return drill. Looked like he knocked him out.
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) August 17, 2022
Patriots ST coach Cam Achord went after Robinson. So did Ronnie Perkins and multiple Patriots, including Matthew Slater
All hell has broken loose near the stands. Punches and pushing. Players on the far field ran over to the other field. This happened shortly after Wilkerson went down in another period that led to some pushing. Pats players weren’t happy about that; carried over to the next period
— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) August 17, 2022
For the second straight day, both teams had to huddle separately, presumably to be told by their coaches to stop the extracurricular activity.
For the Patriots, Deatrich Wise was sent to the locker room with an early exit, while Chuba Hubbard and Robinson were sent to the Panthers' locker room after the dust-up.
Looks like Panthers DB Kenny Robinson is being ejected as well. Robinson was also kicked out of practice yesterday for his involvement in altercations that took place. That’s 7 ejections between yesterday and today between the two teams.
— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) August 17, 2022
According to ESPN's Mike Reiss, nothing like this has ever happened before in the Bill Belichick era in New England.
Never seen it get to this point in any joint practice with the Patriots in Bill Belichick’s tenure (2000-present).
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 17, 2022
Things eventually cooled down, and the practice resumed. But the Patriots and Panthers have let it be known quite clearly that they are not huge fans of each other.
The two teams will be playing in a preseason game at Gillette Stadium on Friday night. Chances are ... things may get chippy.