Fights have been a staple of joint practices all summer, so it’s only fitting that one of the final ones of the year saw a player ejected for scrapping with the opposing team.
Packers right tackle Zach Tom was ejected from the team’s session with the Seahawks in Green Bay. Tom said he took issue with Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones coming to the Packers huddle to go after a teammate and he wound up swinging at Jones and Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon in a fight that quickly spread to include others from both teams.
Tom said he thought Jones was “disrespectful” and weighed in on whether he should have been booted from the session.
“I feel like, yeah, I can have better control — not throwing punches — but I don’t know,” Tom said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “It is what it is, you know? I can only control what I can control.”
There were other scuffles between the Seahawks offense and Packers defense and both teams renewed hostilities after the practice came to an end.
“I didn’t appreciate in general them coming to our sideline while practice was over,” Seahawks defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. “We’ve already broke the huddle, guys are on our side, their guys are on their side, and people are coming over. It’s hard with these joint practices because stuff like that always happens. You don’t want it to happen, but it happens. We try to avoid it as much as possible, but I didn’t appreciate it.”
The two teams will close out the preseason with a game on Saturday and it sounds like all involved are ready to turn their aggression toward the games that count in the standings.