CINCINNATI — It’s a tradition as old as time – or at least since the inception of football. intrasquad fights after too many days battling each other in training camp.
It happened again on Wednesday when Ted Karras finished a perimeter block on Logan Wilson on a cutback run by Zack Moss. Wilson took exception with being blocked in what he thought was a vulnerable position.
Wilson, with his back to the play, tumbled, got up and slapped Karras on the back of the helmet. Karras got up and tackled Wilson and a melee ensued.
Logan Wilson and Ted Karras get into it after the whistle. Tempers flare. A Wilson shove on Karras sparks it. pic.twitter.com/9zUDLpUubF
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 7, 2024
Later, Joe Burrow’s pass over the middle for Andrei Iosivas was completed until Germaine Pratt came by and laid out Iosivas. Again, Karras took exception and rushed Pratt and grabbed him. There were shoves exchanged.
As he made his way back to the huddle, Karras let out some expletives such as, “that f-ing ridiculous.”
Andrei Iosivas takes a shot from Vonn Bell and Germaine Pratt and Ted Karras takes major exception. “That’s f-ing ridiculous” practice is getting borderline out of control in the heat. Note Ja’Marr Chase presence at the end of the scrum. pic.twitter.com/G8cOxMjole
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 7, 2024
“I think that we’ve had a lot of good back and forth, intense training camp going on three weeks now together,” said Karras. “They were tackling our guys in thuds (periods) so, not allowed.”
Thuds is a session where you can hit and bump the offensive player, but not tackle. Karras thought they were clearly crossing the line.
Iosivas appreciated Karras’ support but didn’t mind the live contact in the least.
“That was one of my favorite practices of the year,” Iosivas told me. “It was a very fun practice, for sure.”
As for the altercation with Wilson?
“There was a play on the sideline, probably overly finished. He didn’t like that. And I didn’t care. It was an intense practice. I don’t think anyone was doing anything out of out of proportion and no one got hurt, which is always the most important thing when you’re fighting in training camp. That would really be a stupid way to set us back this year. So I think guys handled themselves. It was an intense practice. And I think offense won.”
Ted Karras explains his side of the story “an intense” day of practice pic.twitter.com/Z6ujeO4zTW
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 7, 2024
Karras admitted he had a big issue with Pratt’s hit on Iosivas.
“I certainly did. But I mean, again, it’s just a tough, intense practice. I’m very thankful that Andrei’s okay, but I’ll let Zac speak on that, but yeah, I had a problem with it.”
Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher had a slightly different take as the Bengals prepare to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Saturday night.
“I think it’s always a sign guys are ready to line up across from another color,” Pitcher said. “I thought it was a really good practice, a competitive practice. It obviously got heated on both sides. We just have to protect ourselves and make sure we’re not putting our teammates at jeopardy. We have a lot of prideful guys that put a lot into this job and care a lot about what they do, and they respond in an intense way. As long as we’re doing it the right way it’s good for our football team.”
So, to Pitcher, Wednesday was an opportunity for iron to sharpen iron.
“Listen this was a long, competitive period that’s meant to replicate a game situation,” Pitcher said. “The offense moves the ball and the defense is frustrated and the defense makes a stop the offense is frustrated. Those are things that are going to happen. I didn’t see anything dirty.”
As a matter of fact, Pitcher welcomes an edge.
“This is a game of very small margins, and it’s a league of very small margins,” Pitcher said. “So how are you going to be just that much better than your opponent because we know that there’s 31 other teams, guys get paid a lot of money, coaches get paid a lot of money. We’ve got to figure out what’s gonna make us different, and that’s our talent, that’s what we do, how we built this culture. It also has to be how we finish games and that edge helps us do that.”
“We need to develop an edge. We’re in the process of doing that, and (Wednesday) was a good step in that direction.”
There were two other minor skirmishes, one in which Charlie Jones was brought to the ground but nothing serious ensued and a minor shoving match involving second teamers. Jackson Carman provided a moment of comedic relief when he flexed over rookie Kris Jenkins Jr. after making a block on a successful play for the offense.
Camp Day 11 Observations:
