Wild Patriots-Packers Practice Sees Numerous Skirmishes, One Ejection

GREEN BAY, Wis. — If film of Thursday’s joint practice between the Patriots and Packers ever leaks to the public (it won’t), be sure to grab some popcorn. And lots of it.

Following Wednesday’s productive but comparatively mild session, New England and Green Bay were at each other’s throats from start to finish. And the good news for the Patriots is that once the dust settled, they clearly won the day on both sides of the ball.

The practice had a bit of everything. Punches? Check. Vicious blindside hits? Yup. Ejections? Uh-huh. Neverending trash talk? You bet. Heated shoving matches? Constantly.

Heck, there even was a brief downpour.

The two teams warmed up and ran through various individual drills on separate fields. But once they came together for roughly two hours of team drills, it was non-stop entertainment.

Early on, it was all about the Patriots defense and Packers offense. They couldn’t get through two straight plays without a mild dustup; we counted four in the first 10 minutes. On multiple occasions, both groups huddled up to reset — with little success.

One started when Matthew Judon wouldn’t let Packers tight end Tucker Kraft get up from the ground. Another included Christian Barmore, because of course it did.

Jalen Mills, Deatrich Wise and Jabrill Peppers all got involved at times, with Peppers perhaps the star of the day with his constant trash talk and energy. At one point, Keion White — who suffered a seemingly minor injury later in practice — ripped off a Packers player’s helmet while everyone was piling up.

Speaking of White, he was at the center of the one altercation that resulted in an ejection. Packers linebacker Keshawn Banks took a swing at the Patriots rookie during a punt drill, prompting Anfernee Jennings to charge from 20 yards out and blindside him into next week. Jennings, knowing his actions were ejection-worthy, immediately took off his helmet and left the field with Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino.

“That’s football,” Judon said after practice. “There’s always a lot of energy. We’re competing out there going tit for tat, and we’re just having fun.”

The star edge rusher later added: “If any of that happened in a game, we all would have been kicked out.”

On the other side of the field, the Patriots offense was too busy dominating the Packers defense to worry about fighting. It was Mac Jones’ best practice performance of the summer, and perhaps the best since his rookie training camp.

But that doesn’t mean things didn’t get chippy.

JuJu Smith-Schuster got into it with cornerback Keisean Nixon. Multiple Patriots offensive linemen shoved Packers defenders after the whistle, but it was hard to identify them through bodies standing on the sideline. After Demario Douglas caught a touchdown from Bailey Zappe and spun the ball in the end zone, a Packers player ran over and kicked it off the scoreboard.

The intensity just never let up. Every time the Patriots made a good play, they let Packers players know about it — and vice versa. Running back Ezekiel Elliott, who was a full participant, was as loud as anyone during those periods.

And the practice ended in borderline poetic fashion.

With New England’s top offense running a two-minute drill, star cornerback Jaire Alexander started lining up on the same side of the field as the Patriots sideline. He and Peppers wouldn’t stop barking at each other, causing Pellegrino to tell Peppers and other defensive backs to cut it out.

Seconds later, Jones and the top offense pulled off their best play of training camp, and final play of the day: a 50-yard bomb to an in-stride DeVante Parker, who ran in for a touchdown. A rowdy Patriots sideline emptied into the end zone, with Peppers especially fired up to greet Jones.

But wait, there’s more.

Green Bay’s second-team offense squared off with New England’s backup defense for one final two-minute drill. The drive ended with a long-but-lucky ricochet touchdown grab that should’ve been intercepted by Adrian Phillips. The Packers, knowing they got their butts kicked all day, erupted from the sideline and ran to the end zone.

Everyone except Alexander, who went straight for New England’s sideline and started yelling at Peppers, who gave it right back while walking onto the field. For a moment, it looked like things could boil over.

But the two then shared a few laughs, dapped each other up and went their separate ways — and they weren’t the only ones. Somehow, some way, there was nothing but good vibes as the two teams walked off the field.

Football, right?