Jamie Collins on aggressive practices with Bears: ‘It only brings out the best in you’
Bryan Stork was the latest Patriots player to get ejected from practice for fighting on Tuesday.
The Patriots have ejected a player for fighting in each of the last two practices at Foxborough.
During the first day of Patriots-Bears joint practices on Monday, Malcolm Butler fought Alshon Jeffrey, and was ejected. Bryan Stork got ejected on Tuesday after fighting Bears linebacker John Timu. There have also been a number of tussles and scrums that were brokenly up quickly, and didn’t result in an ejection. Martellus Bennett and Bears linebacker Lamarr Houston have gotten into it twice.
The fighting may be atypical of the Patriots’ practices, as Bill Belichick has a strict no-fighting rule, but the Patriots players seem unfazed.
“That’s life,” Jamie Collins said Tuesday after practice. “It’s life. Everybody goes through that stuff. You need a little bit of aggressiveness in you anyway. It only brings out the best in you. It’s good.”
Yesterday, Jimmy Garoppolo and fullback James Develin said they don’t condone fighting, but embraced the competitive fire on the field. That seemed to be the thought that was echoed after Tuesday’s practice.
“Those weren’t fights,” Bears head coach John Fox told reporters, via Bears radio broadcaster Zach Zaidman. “Those were just pushing matches.”
Stork did a little bit more than just pushing. He head butted Timu before throwing open-handed punches. But the scrum that ensued wasn’t nearly the same size as the one that formed around Butler and Jeffrey. Over 70 players were in the area during the Jeffrey-Butler bout. Tuesday’s fight stopped shortly after DeAndre Carter restrained Stork and pulled him away from the Bears players.
“It was good just going out there to compete,” said David Andrews, who filled in for Stork at center after the ejection. “Take every experience — good, bad — and learn from it. … It’s a physical game. It’s fiery every play.”
The Patriots have another practice with the Bears on Wednesday, and then have their preseason matchup on Thursday. But fans shouldn’t expect to see the same lack of discipline during the game, according to Patriots receiver Chris Hogan. He said the fighting would stop by game time on Thursday.
“I think it’s just the competitiveness,” Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan told reporters. “This is another team, and we’re a couple of weeks away from finishing training camp. We’ve been doing it, and that’s what happens. Guys out here are trying to compete. Guys are competing, and tempers flare a little bit, but that’s football. We’ll get back to it, and we’ve just got to keep working hard.”
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