CINCINNATI — Ted Karras wanted to make one point clear: Fights in camp don’t mean a team has an edge.
Sometimes it just means they’re hot and sick of each other.
After a raucous practice Wednesday filled with multiple throwdowns, including punches thrown by Logan Wilson and an enraged Ted Karras, it appears all of it might be true.
The defense is trying to play with more edge after a disappointing season. The team does feel the weight of missing the playoffs in 2023. The tone of three consecutive 0-2 starts does live in their heads as Sept. 9 draws nearer.
And, yeah, 11 days of hitting each other in the 90-degree temperatures, they’re sick of all of it.
“It was an intense day,” Karras said. “Fighting does not equal an intense training camp. It just means we have been at each other’s throat for three weeks.”
Well, that escalated quickly.
We’ve got a camp fight. pic.twitter.com/yhoJ7Px0c4
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) August 7, 2024
Never quite like this. In what’s otherwise been a quiet camp where the defense more often than not emerged victorious from 11-on-11 sessions, an orange-and-black geyser exploded. On a running play to the outside, Karras and Wilson were locked up. Wilson threw punches at the center’s helmet after the play.
A throng of bodies ended up in the mix with Karras screaming and yelling toward the crowd.
Not long after, a throw over the middle to Andrei Iosivas ended in Vonn Bell and Germaine Pratt putting a shoulder into the receiver, sending him to the ground and sending Karras back into a state of rage.
“That’s f—— ridiculous!” Karras screamed after running into Pratt’s face.
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Two other confrontations occurred, most to do with tackling in what was supposed to be a thud (hitting but not tackling) period.
There wasn’t much remorse from Pratt.
“It’s physical,” he said with a smile. “It’s football. What are we talking about?”
Wilson is not known as a fighter, in fact, he has almost never engaged in that type of activity since joining the club in 2020. He felt like what transpired went over the line and put him in danger so he responded. As did Karras.
“If it’s seven fights in a practice, it’s inappropriate,” Karras said. “Today I thought they were appropriate fights.”
This practice is off the rails and Ted Karras is beyond livid. pic.twitter.com/1yGTGB37s7
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) August 7, 2024
The finger-pointing and blame game will likely be resolved before dinner is served at Paycor Stadium. The bigger picture shows a team whose leaders are trying to push back and set a more intense tone. Just because the Bengals are throwing down doesn’t mean they’re more intense than in previous years. It was only two years ago they were involved in one of the wildest joint practice fights in league history with Aaron Donald at one point wielding two Bengals’ helmets in his hands, swinging one at offensive linemen.
Still, the words urgency and edge have been thrown around more often than in previous years.
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That might not be all of what bubbled over on Wednesday, but it’s part of it.
“It was a hard pill to swallow last year,” Karras said. “We’re talking about being in the AFC Championship two years in a row and we didn’t make the playoffs. That hurts everybody. That affected a lot of people personally. It affected me personally. I think guys have come back, top to bottom, guys are ready to go.”
The design of Wednesday’s practice was to closely replicate a game situation as the offense drove the ball down the field. They weren’t live and there was no message of taking it to the next level, but there’s no discouraging competitiveness flaring tempers.
“We need to develop an edge,” offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “We’re in the process of doing that, and today was a good step in that direction.”
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By any stretch, the Bengals appear ready to hit somebody else. That’s good news because the next phase of camp will feature just that. They will have three games and two joint practices over the next 15 days.
They’ll learn quickly how much of the edge and urgency discussed and fought over were real and how much was just a hot practice in the dog days of camp.
Inevitably, the Bengals’ edge comes from the sword wielded by franchise quarterback Joe Burrow. That will always be how they fight back or set the tone with an opponent. It also might have provided a better glimpse of their true counterpunch.
“I remember being in the huddle like, ‘Man Joe, put one right in the end zone right here and then we can be done,’” Karras said. The next pass was a Burrow touchdown to Kendric Pryor near the back pylon over Cam Taylor-Britt. “And that’s what he did.”
Burrow tacked on a deep ball to Tee Higgins and near miracle third-down touchdown pass to Tanner Hudson that he couldn’t hold onto.
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If the fracas-filled practice pushed the competitive fire of Burrow and the offense a step forward, the actual fights might end up the footnote here. Kicking up the intensity may have been just what this team needed.
“Some people took exception to some things today,” Karras said. “I thought it was good work. Nobody got any dings doing something stupid, which we can’t afford at all. Overall, it’s a net positive for the Bengals today.”
(Photo: Sam Greene / USA Today)
