NFL drops the hammer on Dallas Cowboys for getting into multiple fights during joint practice
The NFL is making the Dallas Cowboys pay for their participation on Tuesday’s fights during joint practice with the New Orleans Saints.
Yikes. Talk about an expensive practice. The Dallas Cowboys are being fined $500,000 for ““the actions that took place at the joint practice between the teams earlier this week,” according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Actions is quite a a way of putting it. The Cowboys and New Orleans Saints got themselves into multiple fights in a joint practice on Tuesday. Depending on which reporter you ask, there were somewhere between six to 10 skirmishes or scuffles.
The Saints are also being fined $500,000.
Earlier on Thursday, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer revealed the NFL requested the film of the practice to determine the discipline it would impose.
“The Competition Committee has made sportsmanship – including at joint practices – a point of emphasis over the past several years,” the NFL stated. “All clubs were reminded by memo prior to training camp of their responsibility in preventing unsportsmanlike behavior at joint practices that has the potential to result in injury.”
Schottenheimer said after the joint practice there would be no tolerance for fighting. However, he expressed comfort with his team standing up for itself and said he believed his players were unhappy with Saints players knocking them to the ground. Rules had been set against that.
“At the end of the day, there’s too many guys on the ground,” Schottenheimer added. “The answer is yes [they were upset]. We have a way we practice, they have a way they practice, and at the end of the day this isn’t real football.”
Schottenheimer’s comments, video footage (showing late shoves and punches and even a WWE-like body slam from a Saints tihgt end), and the opinion of reporters with boots on the ground all indicate to the Saints being the ones more often initiating the skirmishes. Cowboys insider Patrik Walker posted on social media: “Saints didn’t come to practice, they came to throw hands.”
At the end of the day, the Cowboys know they’re responsible for how they responded to the situation, regardless of who they believe started it. For now, it’s time to pay up.
