Aaron Donald swings helmets in brawl at Rams-Bengals joint practice
CINCINNATI (BVM) – Things got contentious in the Los Angeles Rams joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals as practice was called early following multiple scuffles between the two teams.
In what was supposed to be a slow lead up to a preseason rematch of last year’s Super Bowl teams, practice for the two, would get far out of hand after Aaron Donald was seen swinging two Bengals’ helmets at Cincinnati players as the teams combined for a large pile-up.
keep ya head on a swivel 👀 pic.twitter.com/Oywc3Dt52k
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 25, 2022
The fight involving Aaron Donald would be the third, and last, of the day after Rams outside linebacker, Leonard Floyd, and Bengals offensive tackle, La’el Collins got into it earlier in the period. Collins was also seen using his helmet as the two exchanged words.
A second scuffle breaks out between #Bengals and #Rams big men in joint practice. pic.twitter.com/yZJTiZSqFU
— Sam Greene (@SGdoesit) August 25, 2022
After a clean first day, the final joint practice was nearing its close before the third fight finished the day for both teams.
“Just got a little scuffling, so we called it,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said when asked by reporters about the incident. “We were in the last period and we got two really good days of work in and so, ‘was it worth getting a few extra plays in?’ No, so we called it up and we got two good days of work in and now we’ll go play on Saturday… We probably had three plays left.”
When asked about the danger of helmets being used when it comes to the team-on-team brawl, Taylor said that both teams came away unscathed, which was all that mattered.
“You just want to make sure everybody is healthy, and everybody is healthy, so we’ll move on,” the Bengals coach explained.
Donald has shown a history in the past of previous instances with multiple unsportsmanlike conducts involving choking opposing players. The last time most spectators have seen helmets used in scuffles dates back to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns regular season matchup in 2019, when Browns defender Myles Garrett used Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph’s own helmet to hit him. Garrett was suspended for six games for the incident, but it’s unclear if Donald will face any push back from the league.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero shared that NFL teams, not the NFL, are in charge of handling the conduct of players during team and joint practices.
Clubs — not the NFL — are responsible for overseeing conduct of players at practice, including joint practices. So fair to say league discipline for Aaron Donald (or anyone else) in today's brouhaha is unlikely. https://t.co/VfmDycxBKh
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 25, 2022
