A practice between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers exploded into a 50-man brawl on Thursday as tempers flared between the NFL rivals.
In video of the incident, Green Bay offensive lineman Zach Tom could be seen landing a couple of punches on various Seahawks opponents, while Packers tight end Tucker Kraft quickly got involved in the melee as well.
From there, both team’s benches cleared during the chaotic brawl and coaches had to scramble to stop several groups of players from fighting.
Fans were watching on in the stands at Ray Nitschke Field and they were audibly stunned by the violence, which occurred while the two teams were practicing ahead of a preseason game this weekend.
Tom said afterward that he was kicked out of the joint practice for throwing a punch.
‘They were in our huddle and I saw somebody to my left got hit, so I just reacted,’ Tom said. ‘So, it’s really nothing more than that.’
Packers offensive lineman Zach Tom (right) and Tucker Kraft (No. 85) could be seen getting involved in the fight
Benches cleared during the brawl as coaches rushed to separate the players during the chaos
The jawing between the two teams continued even after practice had ended, which annoyed Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams.
‘I didn’t appreciate in general them coming to our sideline while practice is over and we already broke the huddle,’ Williams said.
‘Our guys are on our side, their guys are on their side, and people were coming over. It’s hard with these joint practices because stuff like that always happens. You don’t want it to happen, but it just happens. We try to avoid it as much as possible. Yeah, I didn’t appreciate it.’
Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon was one of the players doing some trash-talking at the end of the practice. Nixon said it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when fights occur during joint practices.
‘I mean the coaches are not going to like it, but it just comes with the territory, for real,’ Nixon said. ‘That’s just how it goes. It´s too many alphas on the field.’
New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel actually broke up a fight himself earlier this month as his players brawled with Washington Commanders rivals.
In that case, he emerged with a bloody cheek after throwing himself into the middle of the carnage.
Seattle – following a big offseason in which they swapped out quarterback Geno Smith for Sam Darnold – will begin their regular season on September 7 against the 49ers.
Packers QB Jordan Love said the thumb on his non-throwing hand is fine a week after surgery
The Packers will host their NFC North rival Lions that same afternoon as they kick off the season.
They got some good news on Thursday when franchise quarterback Jordan Love said the thumb on his non-throwing hand feels fine a week after he underwent surgery on it.
Love was limited to participating in 7-on-7 drills against the Seahawks, but said he’d be able to play if the Packers had a regular-season game this week. Love has been practicing all week with his left thumb heavily taped.
‘It feels good right now,’ Love said.
