SANTA CLARA – In what might have set a new record for training camp hostility, the 49ers and Tennessee Titans went after each other in a fistful of fury four different times during their joint practice Tuesday.
Not four times over the course of the two hour practice.
Four times within the first six snaps between the 49ers defense and Titans offense.
At that rate, they were going to run out of football players before they ran out of footballs.
Barely five minutes into the scrimmage, an irate Raheem Morris, the 49ers defensive coordinator, was in linebacker Tatum Bethune’s face, delivering a sideline dress-down that could be heard all the way in San Jose.
Morris’ message was unmistakable: Less fighting. More football.
And that was the PG version.
49ers kick players out of practice
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was working with the offense on the adjacent field, so he wasn’t privy to exactly what happened. He didn’t need the instant replay to know he wasn’t happy about it, though, and said afterward that two of his players were banned from the remainder of the workout for their roles in the fights.
The 49ers have a simple team rule: Throw a punch and your practice is over.
Shanahan would not identify the two players who got the boot, but based on Morris’ verbal takedown of Bethune, it wasn’t hard to wonder if the veteran linebacker was one of them.
“We don’t care about scuffles,” said Shanahan, pointing instead to the logistical ramifications of players getting kicked out of practice. Not only do they lose a full day of work, their absence thins the depth of their position group and puts an extra burden on everyone else.
“A chain reaction to other guys,” is how Shanahan put it. “So that’s why we don’t let that happen.”
It’s hardly unusual for brawls to break out during NFL joint practices. In fact, that’s one of the reasons teams have increasingly trimmed these workouts from two practices to one.
Back in the day, when teams practiced against each other on back-to-back days, the second workout had a tendency to turn into a mini SummerSlam.
The only things missing were folding chairs and entrance music.
Unlike pro wrestling, though, these fights aren’t scripted, and the threat of injury is very real. Plus, they defeat the purpose of the whole concept.
Joint practices are designed to expose teams to different concepts, schemes, snap counts and players. But if coaches spend half the workout breaking up fights and separating 300-pound men who suddenly think they’re heavyweights, it diminishes the quality of the work and destroys the rhythm of practice.
The fact that the 49ers and Titans were literally in each other’s faces after the first snap, though, made you wonder if someone had issued a predetermined directive to set the tone.
“No, I promise,” countered 49ers linebacker Fred Warner. “Like we’re not trying to fight and do all this other stuff. Like we’re trying to play football.”
Someone apparently forgot to hit the send button in the group text.
In fact, it was Warner who eventually pulled the 49ers defense together to lay down the law and let everyone know enough was enough.
“I brought everybody together and told them, like, you know, we’re not going to get through today if we continue on this path,” Warner said. “You know, we got to play football, right?”
A novel concept considering how the morning had started.
That said, the sheer volume of action in such a short period of time was entertaining, to say the least.
49ers veteran presence prevails
At one point, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and the offense got into it with the Titans defense. Right in the middle of that commotion, Purdy glanced over to the other field and saw his defense going after the Titans offense.
That’s when Purdy caught the eye of 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, who was held out of a second straight practice while dealing with what the team is describing as “tightness.”
Purdy and McCaffrey could only grin at the absurdity of it all.
“Dude, like this happens,” Purdy remembers saying.
But even Purdy knows there is a line you don’t cross, especially when the objective is getting through the workout without anyone getting hurt.
“At the end of the day, be smart,” said Purdy. “Not trying to get hurt by punching a guy in the face mask or something like that.”
Which, when you think about it, is probably pretty sound advice for anyone considering punching another human being wearing a helmet.
Save for the hurt feelings of a couple of players whose days ended prematurely, the 49ers appeared to get through the whole ordeal in one piece.
The two teams will square off for real Thursday night in the 49ers’ preseason opener at Levi’s Stadium. The day off in between should give everyone enough time to cool down and remember that Thursday’s objective is actually to play football.
Then again, considering Tuesday’s shenanigans, and how quickly these two teams were willing to pull up on each other, Thursday night might feel less like a preseason opener and more like Round 2.
