NFL fines Lions, Giants $200,000 for excessive fighting and unsportsmanlike conduct

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The NFL confirmed Wednesday it has fined the Detroit Lions and New York Giants $200,000 each for excessive fighting and unsportsmanlike conduct during joint practices Monday and Tuesday. The league sent out a memo earlier this summer reminding teams that such behavior would not be tolerated. 

After the teams broke out into close to 10 scuffles Monday, the team’s head coaches — Dan Campbell and Brian Daboll — chatted with each other about how to control the extracurricular garbage. They told their respective teams to tamp it down.

The message seemed to take hold during Tuesday’s joint practice for the first 90 minutes. Then Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers shoved Lions safety Kerby Joseph after a pass play, and Joseph responded with a swing. 

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From there, the benches cleared. It took a couple minutes to restore order, though within a few plays, the teams were back at it again, and for the next 20 minutes, someone shoved or took a swing at someone else every few plays. 

Tuesday’s practice was scheduled to last a few minutes over two hours, but after the near non-stop scuffling, Campbell and Daboll cut the practice short.  

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Nabers, the Giants’ prized No. 6 overall pick out of LSU who made plays all over the field both days, didn’t want to repeat what Joseph had said to him as he walked by, after rookie Terrion Arnold broke up a pass intended for him.  

“Someone comes up to me, says a few words, the rest is that,” Nabers told reporters after Tuesday’s practice.  

Whatever Joseph said, it bothered Nabers enough to shove him near the head. Joseph took exception and threw punches. Several minutes later, Lions undrafted free agent cornerback Morice Norris took a swing at a Giants receiver and was told to get off the field. It was unclear what was said leading up to the punch. 

Many other players got into jawing and shoving matches, too, a trend that began Monday almost immediately after both teams started scrimmaging with one another.  

“Certainly, too much,” Campbell said of Monday’s fighting. “When you have to stop practice that many times to reset the drill and load it, it’s a waste of everybody’s time. Look, I don’t want those. That’s not what it’s about and I know Dibbs (Daboll) doesn’t want it.” 

But, he said, part of the balance is “’man, how do you really, really push yourself to compete at the highest level, but you’ve got to keep your composure?’” 

Campbell and Daboll talked Monday night and agreed they would remind their teams how to find this balance.  

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He said Monday’s scrums were because “we've got a couple of guys who go rogue and do some things that start something but honestly not a big deal. A lot of it was just guys breaking things up. So, we need to compete again today and take some of that out of it. Makes practice go long.” 

Campbell insisted the session Monday wasn’t a wash, despite the distractions.  

“I thought it was certainly a spirited practice, there is a ton of good tape to learn from, you know, from our vets, but also our young guys,” he said. “Just to get a different look from players who have different types of players from what you’ve faced for two weeks now is really beneficial.” 

Daboll said similar things before Tuesday’s practice. 

“(We) talked about cleaning a few things up that led to some of those things," he said.  "We'll try to do a better job (today), but both sides were competitive, got a lot out of it." 

Campbell wasn’t available for comment after Tuesday’s practice. Nor was Daboll. The coaches talked before each practice.  

Joseph didn’t walk to talk about the incident. Nabers summed it up this way: 

"It was a heated practice. Words are being said and stuff like that is going to happen." 

Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him@shawnwindsor.

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