The NFL is one of the most physical sports in the world, and players have to be tough to handle taking hits from opposing teams. Naturally, the physicality of the sport breeds toughness and competitive spirits. That competitive spirit, however, can often lead to training camp fights — which Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wants to get rid of.
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Longtime NFL insider Kay Adams is traveling to speak to players and coaches across multiple training camps, and her most recent stop was at the Steelers’ camp. There, she got to interview Coach Tomlin and asked his opinion on training camp fights.
When Adams asked if Tomlin “encourages” training camp fights, he simply answered with an assertive “absolutely not.”
“I understand we need tough guys in this business, but we’re not putting together an MMA team,” Tomlin added. “It doesn’t help us win games. We get penalized, we get kicked out of games. When they do occur out here, I understand it, but at the same time, it’s a growth opportunity. We got to eliminate that from our competitive spirit, as we step into stadiums.”
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Tomlin is right in stating that training camp fights appear to be a part of football no matter what. The competitive spirit of teams often leads players to have heated exchanges, that then lead to physical fights. Even though Tomlin “understands” it, he is not advocating for it.
Fights in the NFL never amount to good news, and some have gone so far as to lead to players being injured and missing time. Take the injury to former quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as an example.
Bridgewater was on the New York Jets when he and IK Enemkpali got into a heated exchange. The result was a punch thrown from Enemkpali and a broken jaw to Bridgewater. Bridgewater missed the entire season, leading Ryan Fitzpatrick to land the starting job.
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Though tensions were running high between Bridgewater and Enemkpali, the unnecessary violence led to a player losing a lot of time on the field. As Tomlin stated, fights lead to penalties and being kicked out of games. In this case, it led to Bridgwater losing his job.
Getting into fights on the field is commonplace for many NFL teams, and it can often lead to costly penalties when teams are close to winning. Hopefully, fights can be eradicated from football, though that might take some time to no longer be a part of league life.