It’s no secret that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Normally, you would expect a team coming off of a championship to take it easy throughout the first few weeks of the pre-season and rest up for the beginning of the regular season. Well, that is certainly not the case with this year’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are showing that they mean serious business, even in the preseason.
At a joining practice with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday a brawl involving Bucs receiver Antonio Brown and Titans DB Chris Jackson. But the first brawl wasn’t the end of the scuffling throughout the day, as both sides ensued to brawl another four times.
If I am Bruce Arians, I am absolutely ecstatic with the amount of fight my team has shown in this preseason. The Bucs could have easily taken it lightly and went into this season with the “we’re the champs, we can do whatever we want” mentality, but they didn’t. Rather, it seems they are getting down to the nitty-gritty and showing opposing teams that they are here to win another championship.
Also, big ups to Antonio Brown and Chris Jackson who are keeping the competitive spirit of the NFL alive, even in practice. Some people may be upset by what happened, but listen, football is a contact sport. Sometimes it gets loud and messy, but that’s just the way it goes. Personally, I wouldn’t change it for the world; it’s perfect the way it is.
This isn’t the first time brawls have broken out at joint practices, and it certainly won’t be the last. The most infamous brawl from a joint practice happened six years ago, and it involved then-Houston Texan receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall.
As you can see, joint practice brawls are a common occurrence, and can lead to interesting regular season tilts. Many a fan and NFL pundit still question why we have joint practices, and those same people ask if we really do need to have them, or if we should just get rid of them. I say, “why do that?”. I think joint practices are great for the sport, and that the tension that comes out of it can lead to interesting matchups in the regular season.
What do you think? Do you believe joint practices are good for the sport? If not, what do you think is a better alternative? Let me know in the comments below!