Bills Practice Stopped As Excessive Fighting Continues

On Wednesday a pretty serious fight broke out towards the end of the Buffalo Bills practice. Tensions have been known to flare during training camp, but this altercation definitely stood out beyond the typical teammate scuffle.

Rookie defensive end Bryan Johnson locked up with center Eric Wood after a goal-line drill before ripping the helmet from his head. Johnson, who went undrafted and is a long shot to even make the team, then delivered several punches to Wood’s head before threatening him, “I’ll fucking kill you!”

It was a nasty scene, one that has been far too common in Buffalo this summer. Fights and post-whistle shoving matches have been the norm for this Bills team, and coach Doug Marrone reached his boiling point after a few scuffles broke out Thursday morning.

It only took until the final day of practice at the team’s training camp facility, but Marrone finally stepped in and put an end to the shenanigans. According to an ESPN report, he “lined players up on one sideline and ripped into them for fighting.”

At one point, defensive end Jerry Hughes talked back to Marrone, leading to more shouting from Marrone in Hughes’ direction, questioning him about whether he wanted to stay on the team.

Players then ran sprints across the field in an apparent act of discipline.

Looking directly at Hughes, Marrone used several profanities in telling the player to stop complaining.

“Why can’t you handle it as players?” Marrone yelled. He then motioned toward the locker room and said: “Do you want to play on this team?”

Once again looking at Hughes, Marrone said: “If you’ve got a problem with me, you need to come and tell me.”

Considering this has been a problem with the Bills for over a month now, it’s not a very encouraging sign that it took Marrone this long to lay down the law. This is a team that hasn’t seen the postseason in over a decade and are perennial basement dwellers in the AFC East.

And then, of course, there’s the instability with an ownership in flux.

Marrone has only coached one season in Buffalo, but it’s safe to say his seat is getting warmer by the day. It’ll be burning hot by midseason if he doesn’t turn things around.