Tempers flare for Jaguars, Bucs during joint practice

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were involved in several skirmishes during joint practices on Tuesday.

Nothing got too out of hand, however, although Jaguars wide receiver Arrelious Benn did throw a punch at Bucs linebacker Adarius Glanton.

"Two grown men, two football players that [were] chippy, competing. I don't think it's nothing serious," Bucs right tackle Demar Dotson said. "Anytime you get two grown men fighting, competing out here, hitting with pads, we're tired -- we're all tired -- we're hurting, we're a little on-edge. So they probably got called out just like we got called out. Everybody came trying to prove a point."

The first scuffle involved Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and Bucs offensive tackle Donovan Smith at the end of a one-on-one blocking drill. Several other players got involved, including Bucs center Joe Hawley, and there was some pushing and shoving before things calmed down.

Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson and Bucs receiver Mike Evans exchanged words during another drill but nothing came of it.

After that, however, is when things got interesting.

Jaguars receiver Allen Robinson and Bucs safety Chris Conte got into a fight after a play in 7-on-7 red zone work. Conte was pretty physical with Robinson in the end zone and Robinson got in Conte's face and things escalated.

Conte ended up losing his helmet in the scuffle.

"We were just playing good defense and they were getting frustrated. He decided to push me so I'm not gonna let somebody push me around," Conte told ESPN. "I don't know his name. I don't care. It doesn't matter. If they push one of our guys, we'll always have each other's back so, that's all that happened."

One play later, Benn got upset after Glanton tackled him during the non-contact drill. The two exchanged words and Benn threw a punch before players rushed in to break up the scuffle. Benn ended up sans helmet, too.

"There was some hot competition going on so some guys got heated or whatever," Glanton said. "For what reason, I'm not sure. We were just trying to settle it and get it over with. It's over now, so we should move on."

"We were just playing good defense and they were getting frustrated. He decided to push me so I'm not gonna let somebody push me around. I don't know his name. I don't care. It doesn't matter. If they push one of our guys, we'll always have each other's back." Bucs safety Chris Conte

There were no further issues during the final 20 minutes of practice.

"A lot of joint practices, that stuff happens," Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles said. "You don't ever want it to happen. Coach [Doug] Marrone talks about not allowing that to happen, but it does. It's part of football. I think it's important to know the situation.

"If that happens in a game, everybody gets thrown out. I think everybody's aware of that. But in practice, when something happens like that and you've got a guy standing there with 10 of the other team's guys around him, I think it's OK to go in there and help him get out of there."

Ngakoue, Robinson and Benn were not available to the media because they had not been requested to speak prior to practice.

Marrone and Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith each said the players had been warned about fighting prior to the two joint practices.

"There's two sides to every story," Smith said. "It was just something that we really can't allow to happen. It's gonna be a 15-yard penalty in a real game, so we've got to make sure we hold our composure. That's the big thing. We came in here saying we didn't want to fight. We didn't accomplish that."

The teams will meet again on Thursday at EverBank Field in a preseason game.