The Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints held their own fight club Tuesday, marring their efforts to conduct meaningful work in a joint practice. What was supposed to be a gauge for each’s first teams turned into WrestleMania as the teams brawled more than they played football, as observers counted double-digit fights between the two.
There were players knocked to the ground, helmet tosses, punches thrown, and one ejection. Cowboys pass rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku was removed from practice for his role in some of the chaos after he threw a punch at a Saints player during a fight. If keeping score at home, Ezeiruaku has now been ejected from training camp twice for throwing a punch. Earlier in Oxnard, Ezeiruaku was taken off the field for swinging at teammate Terence Steele during a dustup.
Two is also the same number of sacks he had last year as a rookie.
That’s not good for a player who’s trying to break out in his second season. To have an impact, he must stay on the field, something that he can’t do if he’s getting into fights. Ezeiruaku needs to learn to control his emotions better, or he’ll be hurting the team.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said he wants his guys to play on the edge, but throwing a punch meant Ezeiruaku had to leave practice.
It’s good to have some fight and not get pushed around, but it’s another thing to throw punches and get ejected. And it can’t be dismissed as just a camp fight, because that’s now twice where Ezeiruaku has made the same mistake. If it happens now, it could happen in a regular season game, and if the pass rusher is ejected then, it could prove costly for the Cowboys. The penalty would be bad, but a possible suspension would be much worse for a player the team is counting on.
There’s also a chance Ezeiruaku could hurt his hand while swinging on a player wearing a helmet.
Ezeiruaku has the potential to lead the Cowboys in sacks this season, but that can’t happen if he’s not on the field because he’s been ejected for throwing punches. It’s happened twice already in training camp, there can’t be a third time.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Fights break out at Cowboys-Saints practice, edge rusher on edge again
Reporting by Ben Grimaldi, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ben Grimaldi, Cowboys Wire | USA TODAY Network
