The New York Giants did not have the best day at practice on Thursday, June 5, because the team’s practice ended in a fight. This is probably not what loyal Giants followers want to hear, because it seems like a bad omen of what’s to come, but hopefully it’s just an anomaly.
The fight broke out during the end of the team’s no contact organized team activities, OTA, on Thursday. Initially, edge rusher Brian Burns and left tackle James Hudson got in a brawl and had to be separated, as Big Blue View reports, and staff had to take Hudson to the sideline. Then, in the next play Kayvon Thibodeaux went for a swing at Jermaine Eluemunor, but Eluemunor ducked it. From there, things got really bad, and Burns and Hudson started fighting on the ground and had to be separated.
Due to the brawl, head coach Brian Daboll ended the workout a few minutes early. Who can blame him?
New York Giants QB Russell Wilson Tries to Smooth Things Over
Giants quarterback Russell Wilson tried to soften the blow, pun intended, of the incident and called it “a competitive part of practice.”
“I think we’re all competing and trying to be the best version of us and everything else,” Wilson said, according to Fox Sports. “A lot of times when you have a long practice like the way we did, the way we’re working, things happen. Every great team I’ve been on, there’s been a couple of those. … Nothing to worry about.”
“When you have a long practice like we did and the way we’re working, things happen,” Wilson added. “Every great team I’ve been on there’s been a couple of those.”
The Giants were working out in 90-degree heat, and Burns said that was a factor in the angsty incident. “The heat got to us…guys trying to get better, tensions raised high. Ain’t that deep, we squashed it,” Burns said after the Giants’ sixth practice of OTAs. He added that this kind of brawl is “healthy at times” for a team.
“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 added.
Giants Player Says ‘This Happens All the Time’
GettyNew York Giants rookie minicamp.
Burns also said, according to Fox Sports, that this is kind of normal, too. “Yeah, this happens all the time,” Burns said. “We fight over food, we fight over ping-pong, pool, whatever it is. It happens all the time. This ain’t nothing but a little brotherhood.”
“The only thing I’m mad about is we had to go ahead and call it up,” he said. “But, I mean, we got most of our work done today. But I just want to stay away from that and I’m going to let it be known to the team, like, that’s not what we’re doing. We’ve got to keep our minds set on the main thing, which is football. All that horseplay and all that stuff is cool or whatever, a nice edge and everything like that, but we do have to get to the details and get our work done.”
New York Giants Practice Ends in a Fight