The Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Rams held joint practices this week which brought some not so surprising consequences.
Training camp fights have been happening all offseason however when two teams are involved the impact is always magnified. The first skirmish of the day can be attributed to Cowboys linebacker Andrew Gachkar when making contact with Rams center Demetrius Rhaney.
This would lead to a larger fight which featured heavy weights such as Randy Gregory and Jared Cook. The fights got so crazy that at one point Todd Gurley, a rookie who is coming back from a torn ACL jumped into the fray and Imoan Claiborne got a cheap shot in on Dez Bryant (who was not wearing a helmet and was held out of practice as a precaution).
The intensity levels were so high both head coaches, Jeff Fisher (Rams) and Jason Garrett (Cowboys) decided to end their joint practice. Stephen Jones spoke about the incident,
"I can't imagine that we can't continue to have joint practices and get this right just like we do a lot of things, but we're going to have to continue to emphasize that stuff is not what we want. It should not be a part of our game. It's not good for either team. Obviously, there are huge injury risks. We've just got to learn from it. I'd hate to think two teams can't get together. When you see the energy level out here with the fans, they enjoy it, watching the teams play. I do think we can continue to do this. I just think we have to emphasize we don't want this in our game."
Rams head coach Jeff Fisher also spoke after the fight,
"I would be the first one to say I would love to come back and practice against the Cowboys again because they are a talented team and first-class organization."
Both Fisher and Stephen Jones are on the competition committee which have made limiting fighting during regular season games a focal point of this season.
