FIGHT! Patriots Come Out Swinging at OTAs

Tempers flared between offensive and defensive players during the New England Patriots' non-padded, voluntary workout.

Oh-TAs?!

The New England Patriots have already been fined for having too many meetings during the offseason. After Tuesday's on-field session on the fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium, might they be punished for having too much passion?

Tabbed by coach Bill Belichick as a "low-tempo" day, a couple of players instead ratcheted the intensity to padded, training-camp levels. A skirmish between offensive lineman Cole Strange and linebacker Anfernee Jennings escalated into a fight when defensive lineman Christian Barmore delivered a swing over the top of the scrum of several players. The punch didn't directly connect with anyone, and veteran center David Andrews quickly pulled him away from the pile.

Barmore and Andrews were kicked out a training camp practice for fighting each other last August.

Apparently no one was kicked out of the supposed non-contact, voluntary "practice", but Barmore and Strange did sit out the rest of the day.

“People on our team are very passionate about what they do," said defensive lineman Deatrich Wise. "Things happen.”

While veterans such as DeVante Parker, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Matthew Judon and Adrian Phillips were absent from the session, the heightened emotions could be a sign that the Patriots are ready to make amends for missing the playoffs in two of the last three seasons. But, remember, the Patriots were involved in multiple fights during their joint training camp practices with the Carolina Panthers in Foxboro last Summer. New England went 8-9 while the Panthers finished 7-10 and neither made the postseason.

The Pats were docked two days of OTAs and Belichick was fined $50,000 recently for holding special teams meetings that supposedly crossed the line of appearing to be mandatory instead of voluntary.

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