Ok, one good training camp fight you can understand. But two more on Friday to make it three in the last two padded practices? Even Bill Belichick had enough of that.
“Competition is good, fighting is not,” LB Bobby Carpenter said. “So there's a fine line between taking it to the whistle and taking it a little bit beyond. But as it goes every year, as it gets hotter, camp gets longer, guys start getting a little irritated, agitated. And things get a little hot some times, but fortunately that's what these laps are for, to cool us off.”
In the first fight, Carpenter and SS Patrick Chung met RB Shane Vereen in the hole and took him down to the ground after the whistle and a Belichick warning to stay off the ground. An offensive player didn't like that and things got out of hand, including RT Marcus Cannon being on the bottom without a helmet.
In the second skirmish, LT Darrion Weems took Dane Fletcher to the ground and gave him a shove after the whistle. DL Marcus Fortson took offense and got a shot in on Weems when things broke out again.
Assistant coaches Dante Scharneccia and Pepper Johnson ran the laps with their players.
For better or worse, Carpenter admitted some of it was temper, but some of it was also ego.
“No one wants to be embarrassed out there,” Carpeneter said. “The offense wants to look good, the defense wants to look good, coaches for both sides want to look good. So we have some heated contests, and that's what it's all about. You want to be competitive and improve. But Like I said, there's a very fine line between competition and fighting.”
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