Washington cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. had a busy day during his team's joint practice with Baltimore.
The rookie was beat badly by fellow first-round draft pick Zay Flowers in a one-on-one drill. Later, Forbes made a nice play to break up a deep pass from Lamar Jackson to Odell Beckham Jr.
Eventually, the intensity boiled over a bit when Forbes and Tylan Wallace started swinging at each other, starting the first of two skirmishes between the Commanders and Ravens within a few minutes of each other Tuesday.
“Joint practices are a challenge — always,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “You’ve got two teams out here, and there is a lot of pride. I thought it was a really good practice. We had a couple dust-ups, which you don’t want to see, but it’s not really unexpected. I thought they got handled pretty quickly.”
It wasn't a huge surprise to see tempers flare. The purpose of joint practices is to create a competitive but controlled environment. They're also a good chance for star players — who might not play in any preseason games — to get some work in against another team.
“To me, this is actually almost better than preseason,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “It's much harder to tackle without going to the ground, and then you're covering elite guys every single play.”
Harbaugh said avoiding tackling is tricky, and it's sometimes unclear how much physicality is too much. Forbes appeared to be trying to knock the ball away from Wallace at the end of a play when the two swung at each other.
"Tempers flare and I’m just competing,” Forbes said.
Shortly after that fight, another one broke out, with Ravens tight end Mark Andrews involved. After that, players gathered in the middle of the field in an attempt to calm things down.
“(Harbaugh) addressed their guys, I addressed our guys and they got back to it," Washington coach Ron Rivera said. “What we’re trying not to have is a big melee that we can’t get stopped. That would not make sense, and that would be inexcusable. We’re trying to temper it."
Practicing against Jackson should benefit the Commanders, who had the NFL’s third-ranked defense last year and similar expectations going into this season.
“Just being able to see him in the pocket and have awareness of him and just know that the D-line, we’ve got to rush as one, as a unit, and contain him and not be on our own mission,” defensive tackle Daron Payne said. “We’ve got to all be together.”
Washington’s starting defense was not all together on the field, with edge rusher Chase Young not taking part in team drills after leaving the preseason opener Friday at Cleveland four snaps in because of a stinger. The Ohio State product was in full uniform and is expected to continue working through individual drills.
“Right now, we’re just being smart with it,” Rivera said.
The team also is trying to be smart with veteran, injury-prone tight end Logan Thomas, who continued to sit out because of a calf strain. Thomas has done some work on side fields, and Rivera said the 32-year-old also is doing some running on an underwater treadmill.
Even without Thomas, Washington’s starting offense led by quarterback Sam Howell got some valuable snaps against Baltimore’s top defenders. It was the first joint practice of receiver Terry McLaurin’s career and something he found useful and enjoyable.
“It’s fun going against a different team,” McLaurin said. “You go against each other for so long, you kind of get familiar with your teammates. They get familiar with what you do. When you come out here against another team, it’s good to have a measuring stick of how you’ve made it up until this point in camp.”
These teams will be seeing plenty of each other. There's another joint practice Wednesday, and the Commanders host an exhibition game against the Ravens on Monday night.
Despite his own involvement in a scuffle Tuesday, Andrews expressed admiration for the Commanders.
“This has been fun. This is really, really fun," Andrews said. “A lot of respect for this organization that we’re going against. And today, just being focused, being determined, playing hard.”
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