Big Blue View
Brian Burns, James Hudson, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Jermaine Eluemunor the main combatants
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — With temperatures hovering near 90 degrees, tempers boiled over late in Thursday’s no-contact OTA, bringing an abrupt end to the practice.
First, Brian Burns and left tackle James Hudson had to be separated, with staff escorting Hudson to the sideline.
A play later, Kayvon Thibodeaux took a swing at Jermaine Eluemunor — a full punch that Eluemunor ducked. A melee ensued, with Burns throwing Hudson to the ground and the two having to be separated.
Once things were broken up, head coach Brian Daboll ended the workout a few minutes before its scheduled conclusion.
This was an OTA held in shorts and t-shirts, something that usually does not result in that kind of intensity.
Quarterback Russell Wilson called it “a competitive part of practice.”
“When you have a long practice like we did and the way we’re working, things happen,” Wilson said. “Every great team I’ve been on there’s been a couple of those.”
Burns, who was scheduled to speak to media after practice, perhaps surprisingly actually came to the podium.
Burns, appropriately, showed up with a towel draped over his head like a boxer cooling down after a fight.
“Heat got to us,” Burns said. “It’ a violent sport we play. Guys trying to get better. Tensions raised a little high, it got a little hotter, guys getting a little more agitated.
“It ain’t that deep. We squashed it.”
Burns said skirmishes like that can be “healthy,” but not when they end up causing reps to be missed.
“You still want to get your work done at the end of the day, but that competition, that edge, that dawg that we need to have is needed,” Burns said.
— Stay with Big Blue View for more coverage from Thursday’s OTA.
