Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said this week that he told his players to fight all they want at practice. Browns coach Eric Mangini takes the opposite approach.
After rookie defensive tackle Cliff Geathers threw punches at some offensive linemen during this week’s minicamp, Mangini said he told the team he wasn’t going to tolerate it.
“We shut that down,” Mangini said. “We are not fighting at practice. We don’t do it. We’re never going to do it. I’ve seen too many bad things happen in that situation where either the guy that throws the punch breaks his hand or gets hurt, or he hurts somebody else and they’re rolling around. There’s so many chances that the guys have to show how tough they are, and that’s not one of them.”
Contrary to coaches who view fighting as a sign of intense competition, Mangini views fighting as a sign that a player can’t control himself.
“You need to be able to control your emotions in the game,” Mangini said. “There’s going to be times where you’re hit in the game, there’s going to be times where maybe you’re cheap-shotted in the game. Whatever it is, they always catch the guy that pushes second and you get the penalty and you have got to learn how to control your emotions. I talked about that with the players [Thursday]. I don’t believe in it and I think it’s wrong.”
