Karras was in the middle of three of the dust-ups that involved the first-team offense taking exception to how physical the defense was playing while taking players to the ground in non-tackling periods.
“I think we’ve had a lot of good back and forth, an intense training camp going on three weeks now together,” Karras said of the intensity Wednesday. “They were tackling our guys in thud, so it’s not allowed.”
Andrei Iosivas takes a shot from Vonn Bell and Germaine Pratt and Ted Karras takes major exception. “That’s f-ing ridiculous” practice is getting borderline out of control in the heat. Note Ja’Marr Chase presence at the end of the scrum. pic.twitter.com/G8cOxMjole
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 7, 2024
On the first scuffle, Logan Wilson hit Karras in the back of the head after some chatter at the end of a Zack Moss run, leading to Alex Cappa coming in and blasting Wilson. BJ Hill and others then started pushing Cappa, and Karras gave Wilson a shove as he got up.
“It was a play on the sideline, probably overly finished,” Karras said. “He didn’t like that, and I didn’t care. So, it was an intense practice. I don’t think anyone was doing anything out of proportion. No one got hurt, which is always the most important thing when you’re fighting in training camp because that would really be a stupid way to set us back this year. So, I think guys are handling themselves. It was an intense practice, and I think offense won.”
There was another minor fight involving backups moments later, but Karras had to step in again and make known his displeasure with the defense when Joseph Ossai and Germaine Pratt threw down Charlie Jones at the end of a jet sweep. Karras yelled “is this tackling?”
The final incident led to both Karras and Pratt being pulled off the field after Andrei Iosivas took a shot from Vonn Bell and Pratt as he was trying to make a catch up the middle. Karras stepped in shouting, “That’s f---ing ridiculous!”
“I certainly did (have an issue with that), but again, it was just a tough, intense practice and I’m thankful Andrei is OK,” Karras said. “I’ll let Zac speak more to that tomorrow, but yeah, I had a problem with that.”
Pratt said that was just a “bang-bang play.”
“The defense has to be physical,” Pratt said. “Some plays are 50-50 balls and you want to showcase that they won the catch. Everybody is passionate and has love for the game and showcasing. Guys on offense are talking so now defense is talking, it sparks the practice up and makes it more competitive.”
Asked why it was so physical Wednesday, Pratt said “guys talking and guys ready to play someone else.” He didn’t feel he was out of line with his play.
“I don’t know what’s a fine line in football,” Pratt said. “It’s physical. It’s football. What are we doing? We want to protect our teammates obviously but when it’s football, it’s time to get physical.”
Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said he didn’t see anything he would classify as dirty Wednesday. He said it was a “long, competitive period” meant to replicate a game situation, and when the offense is moving the ball, the defense gets frustrated and when the defense makes a stop, the offense is frustrated.
Sometimes emotions get the best of players in competitive situations, but Pitcher said the team needs to “develop an edge,” and the intensity shown Wednesday was a step in that direction.
“I think it’s always a sign guys are ready to line up across from another color,” Pitcher said. “I thought it was a really good practice, a competitive practice. It obviously got heated on both sides. We just have to protect ourselves and make sure we’re not putting our teammates at jeopardy. We have a lot of prideful guys that put a lot into this job and care a lot about what they do, and they respond in an intense way. As long as we’re doing it the right way it’s good for our football team.”
Roster moves
While players are competing with intensity in practice, the Bengals have narrowed down the competition for the punter job after waiving Austin McNamara on Wednesday.
Cincinnati had signed McNamara as a college free agent in May specifically to compete with second-year player Brad Robbins, but ended up also bringing in Ryan Rehkow as an undrafted college free agent just as camp was starting. Rehkow has been impressive with his booming punts, so now it’s down to him or Robbins.
Also on Wednesday, the Bengals waived wide receiver Tre Mosley and signed rookie defensive end Andre Carter and defensive tackle Joshua Pryor, while also placing defensive end Cam Sample on injured reserve with an Achilles injury. Carter originally signed with Jacksonville as a free agent in May but was waived July 31, and Pryor is a second-year player who appeared in seven games for Washington last year but was waived on May 7.
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