The most random and unexpected rivalry in the NFL is now officially, categorically, and … enjoyably, a thing.
Take a bow, New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, and accept the plaudits for having come with up one of the preseason’s quirkiest developments.
Two days of fights during joint practices this week were enough to take two teams with an extremely limited shared history and morph them into mortal enemies.
The Patriots got mad when Panthers safety Kenny Robinson delivered a clattering hit on New England returner Kristian Wilkerson, then stood over him as he lay prone on the turf.
The Panthers got mad when their star running back Christian McCaffrey was on the wrong end of a big hit from Deatrich Wise Jr., then threw a ball at Wise, igniting the latest in a series of fisticuffs and flareups.
Head coaches Bill Belichick and Matt Rhule got mad at the unprofessional nature of it all and expressed frustration at the lost preparation time caused by having to cut short the sessions.
“I know a lot of [the talk] will be about what happened,” Rhule told reporters. “That’s not how we want to practice, right?”
Everyone else has treated it with no small measure of glee, partly because of the absurdity and the surprise factor and partly because it might be the best sign yet that football – finally – is just around the corner.
There is no faux outrage going on — if you are deeply offended by some training field aggression then football’s probably not for you. If anything, it sparks some intrigue as to what other rivalries might sprout from nowhere and end up with helmet-and-pads imitations of Tyson Fury.
What’s next? Will the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears start scrapping over who has the most dejected fan base in the league?
The NFL has some great rivalries, but this is one we really didn’t see coming because there was never a reason for hostility to break out. Over the past 27 years, the respective positioning of the Patriots in the AFC East and the Panthers in the NFC South meant that the teams have met just seven times in the regular season.
There was, of course, a highly competitive Super Bowl showdown between the pair 18 years ago, capped off by Adam Vinatieri’s game-winner, but even that didn’t get particularly testy.
The worst part of this week’s incidents was that the McCaffrey-Wise fracas spilled over into a viewing area, with Wise falling on a female fan and leaving her with a swollen foot. It might also spell doom for Robinson, who is reportedly at risk of being cut over his involvement.
Joint practices lead to split opinions across the league. What has transpired between the Patriots and Panthers is actually a pretty good summation of the good and the bad of such set-ups.
“I’m not surprised,” Patriots veteran Matthew Slater said, when asked about the fights. “These joint practices, you’ve been seeing it for years across the league. I don’t know what we expect.
“We were trying to come out there and compete, but ever since I’ve been in the league, you see joint practices and there are fights. Our union and the league think it is a good idea to keep going, so we’ll keep doing them, but I’m not surprised when stuff like this happens.”
The reason why coaches are generally in favor of joint sessions, and why 22 teams will take part in them this preseason, is because of the extra intensity and competition that inevitably occurs when introducing an opposing set of players – and egos – into the mix.
On Friday, the two squads will get to go at it for real in a preseason game at Gillette Stadium. Don’t be shocked if, with everything that’s happened, it turns out to be a little spicier than most mid-August footballing affairs.
That’s the way of things. We’re not in the business of promoting fights, but pro football is a fierce sport populated by intense competitors. Handshakes, hugs and nice-to-meet-yous might be unrealistic expectations.
If more rivalries spring up as a result of joint practices, no one is going to be complaining. The more random they are, let’s be honest, the more interesting it becomes.
