Random Ramsdom: Josh McDaniels speaks about fights during joint practices with LA

Hey, happy Friday and thanks for checking out today’s links!

We’ve got Josh McDaniels, and he says Sean McVay agrees, talking about how dissapointing the fights between the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders have been. What else are they going to say? Sure, we don’t want to see fights, but football is one of the physical and violent sports.

I don’t want to minimize the serious but fights are going to happen in football. Do players need better self-control? Do proffesional athletes need to act proffesional? All that is true AND at the end of the day fights are going to happen. The fact that they can get through a practice at all speak volumes. What do you think? Does McVay need to do more to help his team avoid these fights and skirmishes?

We’ve got a lot of other great links and even one that is more current event related than sports related at the bottom, and it’s a serious topic. I thought it was worth sharing and cool to see.

Please comment on anything you’d like and have a great day!

Raiders’ Josh McDaniels drops truth bomb about fighting amid joint practice with Rams (clutchpoints)

“Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby chased down Rams RB Cam Akers and punched the ball out after the play, after he believed his team wasn’t bringing enough energy and effort to the session. Akers was annoyed and shoved Crosby, who threw a punch back at the ball carrier, resulting in the sidelines clearing.

“I bring that juice every single day, and I want my teammates to feel that,” Crosby said after Wednesday’s practice, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic. “And, s—, if I’ve got to go out there and take matters into my own hands, I can do it in different ways.”

His head coach Josh McDaniels felt differently about the altercation, and felt the fight was a waste of both teams’ time and energy as they work to get better.

“That’s not what we’re here to do,” McDaniels said. “(Rams coach) Sean (McVay) and I are on the same page on this in terms of what we’re trying to get done here. None of it involves fighting. So, to me, it’s a waste of time. That’s not toughness. That’s not football.”

It wasn’t the only fight that has broken out in joint practices around the league, with incidents occurring in Dallas and in Washington as well as others. Emotions run high between teams battling in close quarters, and everyone wants to put their best foot forward while displaying their passion, and sometimes it boils over into a brawl.”

‘Relentless’ Rams Rookie Kobie Turner ‘Only Going to Get Better’ (fannation/ramsdigest)

“With Kobie, I thought he did a really good job as the game went on,” McVay said. “He only got 20 snaps, but he’s a guy that plays with the relentless motor and effort, understands the techniques and the fundamentals that (defensive line coach) Eric Henderson and (asst. defensive line coach) AC Carter are teaching and think he’s only going to get better.”

McVay added that both Turner and rookie outside linebacker Byron Young are guys the Rams will be counting on moving forward and he feels the preseason presents a strong opportunity for learning experiences as they work to get up to speed prior to the start of the regular season.

But fortunately for the young defenders, they have a valuable presence to learn from inside the locker room in Donald - although Turner started studying his veteran counterpart long ago,

Turner told Heavy during OTAs that he watched film of Donald during his time in college and tried to emulate his hand usage, arsenal and the manner in which he uses natural leverage to his advantage.

The result? An impressive start to Turner’s professional career that drew unprompted praise from Donald, who noted the former Wake Forest star when asked about young defensive line standouts during camp.

“Kobie is having his flashes,” Donald said.”

Raiders, Rams joint practice day two: Deep ball struggles for Jimmy Garoppolo (raiderswire)

“Where Garoppolo has done well is in his short and intermediate throws, especially in the middle of the field.

He was enjoying having Hunter Renfrow back in the mix today and seemed on the same page with the savvy slot receiver early in practice.

“Hunt’s been awesome, man. He sees the field very well, makes it easy on me. Very decisive in his routes,” Garoppolo said of Renfrow. “But all those guys. I mean, him, DC (DeAndre Carter), tight ends even that work the slot. All those guys have done a good job. They give me easy targets, so it makes my job a lot easier.”

Garoppolo didn’t mention Jakobi Meyers, but the two of them finished a late session in the two-minute drill with three straight completions, two on slants and one on a comeback route.

Practice concluded with both team throwing for the end zone.

One the side with the Rams offense, Matt Stafford had his first throw for the end zone knocked down by a leaping Nate Hobbs. But his next shot was complete to Tutu Atwell for the TD crossing along the back of the end zone with Marcus Epps the closest to him.”

Maxx Crosby-Cam Akers skirmish stirs up memories Rams, Raiders don’t want to revisit (espn.com)

“But Las Vegas and Los Angeles were able to get through the first day of two workouts without devolving into a repeat of their last farcical sessions together. During a 2021 joint practice, several skirmishes resulted in the second practice being canceled after a melee during a special-teams period. Then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden had to order his team back onto their buses.

“I don’t have enough energy for all that, to be honest with you, but more power to those guys,” Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford joked when asked about the clash between Crosby and Akers.

“No, I think we all realize we got to get some work done,” Stafford continued. “And that was kind of a one-off thing, and we were able to settle it back down and go play.”

Crosby and Akers fought along the Rams’ sideline at the end of a play during a team period. It looked as if Crosby tried to knock the ball out after they were both out of bounds, and Akers took offense to it.

Punches were thrown, and both teams poured onto the field to break up the two combatants.”