Lions' brawl ends minicamp early

By Tim Twentyman / The Detroit News

Allen Park -- A number of Lions players' wallets are going to be lighter once coach Jim Schwartz gets a look at Friday morning's final minicamp practice tape.

Schwartz had to cut the final practice of a three-day minicamp short after a second fight turned into an all-out brawl between the offense and defense. Schwartz stopped practice and screamed at his team at midfield for more than five minutes. He still was steaming as he talked to the media afterward.

"That is not acceptable what happened," he said. "We weren't able to finish a period. It's going to get hot and you're going to get to the end of practice and you are going to have things that come up, but when you can't finish practice and when you have guys entering fights that aren't involved in it, it's unacceptable and they are going to get taxed pretty heavy."

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The Lions were docked two organized team activity practices this past Monday and Tuesday for breaking NFL rules for the intensity and pace of offseason, non-padded practices. Minicamp normally is a bit more physical than OTA practice and the NFL typically is more lenient in doling out penalties to teams during minicamp, but Friday's incidents could get a look from the NFL.

"That was too intense," Schwartz said. " We had that situation come up before on OTAs and we sort of laughed that we can't fine the players, but guess what, there are going to be a lot of fines from today."


It was hard to tell which players started the fights, but it was clear a line was drawn right through the line of scrimmage.

"It's just guys competing," said defensive tackle Jason Hunter, who was fined more than once for fighting last season, but insisted he won't have a bill for Friday's events.

"Guys are out there competing and having fun and that's football," he said. "Guys are trying to make a team and guys are trying to establish themselves, so you are going to have that. I'm sure it's that way with 31 other teams. It's nothing personal. It was all football."

Schwartz wasn't happy when the NFL docked the Lions their last two OTAs and said he wasn't sure what their reaction would be to Friday's skirmish.

"Offseason is offseason. We don't have shoulder pads on. We are governed by a lot of the same rules. I don't think the NFL spells out no fights, but it's just understood that you are a team and you have to act as one," Schwartz said. "We didn't learn our lesson from the first time. We hurt the team from a penalty standpoint from guys being on the ground and guys being at danger and they are going to feel the repercussions of that."


Schwartz had planned to end practice on a high note with a field-goal competition between the offense and defense. He still went forward with the contest and the defense won when rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh kicked a 35-yard field goal for the defense. Center Dominic Raiola and receiver Mike Moore couldn't match for the offense.

But Schwartz said the brawl before the end of practice marred what was supposed to be a fun end to minicamp.

"I had planned it to sort of end on a high note but it's hard to end on a high note after guys were rolling around on the ground," Schwartz said.

"I was tired of it. It's been addressed. It's going to be addressed more and if it happens again it's going to be addressed in a different way."

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100626/SPORTS0101/6260363/1126/Lions--brawl-ends-minicamp-early#ixzz0rvz0kS3I