If Thursday’s joint practice is any indication of how Saturday’s preseason game between the Titans and Buccaneers will go, it will definitely be a game worth following. The practice — which took place under extreme Tampa heat — had five altercations with the main event being Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown punching Titans cornerback Chris Jackson.
Brown complained that he was being held by Jackson before ripping Jackson’s helmet off. The veteran receiver then unfurled several punches before the two were separated. Brown, who has rarely made headlines since joining the Buccaneers midway through the 2020 season, momentarily left practice to collect himself.
Another notable altercation took place between Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette and Tampa Bay center Ryan Jensen. Jensen intervened after Simmons wouldn’t let go on Fournette.
“That wasn’t our focus,” Simmons said about Thursday’s altercations, via ESPN’s Turron Davenport. “Our focus was to come in and do what our coaches teach. It’s football. It’s competitive. You’ve got a lot of guys competing for jobs, for spots. … There’s going to be guys chipping off, guys talking smack or whatever it may be. But we don’t want punches thrown or anything like that.”
While Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians downplayed the incidents, Titans coach Mike Vrabel was more concerned with his offense following Thursday’s joint practice.
“It sucked,” Vrabel said, via ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “From what I saw, we didn’t do very well offensively. I don’t think we competed like we did yesterday. Probably a lot of reasons. But just not good enough. Clearly they were better today. We’ll see how we respond and take to coaching and play on Saturday.”
Fortunately for Vrabel’s offense, Arians has already ruled his starters out for Saturday’s preseason game, the second exhibition game for both teams. Instead of playing on Saturday, Arians challenged his team to practice with intensity during Thursday’s scrimmage. It’s safe to say that Arians’ team followed suit.
“The intensity was much higher today,” Buccaneers receiver Chris Godwin said. “I feel like it always is on the second day of joint practices in the heat like this, tempers did kind of get going, and guys were just competitive.”
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