The Buccaneers and Titans had several skirmishes during practice on Thursday, headlined by a scrum involving receiver Antonio Brown. Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians won’t be doing anything about it.
Arians told reporters he won’t punish any of his players for any fights that happened on Thursday.
Brown at one point was ejected from practice for ripping off the helmet of Titans cornerback Chris Jackson. Brown, who returned after cooling off, landed a solid left hook (as the attached photo demonstrates).
Arians also was happy with the overall experience coming from two days of practices with the Titans.
“Really pleased with the work we’ve gotten the last two days — extremely good competition,” Arians said. “Obviously, it always happens when the flyers and the gunners get together, something starts. But it was spirited, it was great practice and I really appreciate the Titans for coming down here and helping us get better, and hopefully we made them better.”
The incident with Brown and Jackson happened during one-on-one drills, not during a special-teams period.
Arians also was happy that the offense was sharper on Thursday than on Wednesday, when he was upset about dropped passes.
“I think yesterday [was] a little bit of the newness and some of that,” Arians said. “Coaches got on their ass pretty good, too.”
He added that the Buccaneers were hungrier on Thursday, and that it showed in their performance. Three Thursdays from now, the time comes for the Bucs to begin performing at a much higher level, when they host the Cowboys for the first game of the 2021 regular season.