Plenty of teams have had fights during training camp. The Bills had one on Wednesday, which included some fairly strong language from one of the participants.
According to Tim Graham of the Buffalo News, veteran center Eric Wood and rookie defensive lineman Bryan Johnson had an altercation during a goal-line drill. Tight end Scott Chandler intervened, taking Johnson to the ground.
“I’ll f-cking kill you!” Wood yelled at Johnson.
Defensive end Jerry Hughes was amused.
“Twenty-one days in pads and counting!” Hughes yelled. “I love it! That’s what happens, baby!”
Coach Doug Marrone wasn’t.
“It’s not part of the game,” Marrone told reporters after practice. “Therefore, I don’t want to speak about it. It hurts the integrity of our game the more we talk about it. That’s how I feel about fighting.”
It may hurt the integrity of the game, but it’s definitely part of the fabric of the game. Still, at some point a fight during practice becomes a case of workplace violence, which is prohibited by the NFL’s personal-conduct policy. At some point between harmless pushing and shoving and Albert Haynesworth shredding the forehead of Andre Gurode resides a line that players shouldn’t cross. It’s unclear precisely where that line resides.