The New England Patriots wrapped up training camp with one final joint practice with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday before their Friday preseason game.
Like Tuesday, both teams again found themselves in a fight as two separate scrums went down.
The first fight occurred after Panthers defensive back Kenny Robinson landed a significant hit on Patriots wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson during a kickoff/kick return drill. Wilkerson had to be carted off and was later diagnosed with a concussion.
PFF’s Doug Kyed reported Wednesday night that Wilkerson “is likely to miss some time with a head injury but other tests from medical facility came back clear.”
Although the hit was deemed clean by a few Patriots, notably Matthew Slater, it was celebrations by the Panthers after the play, especially Robinson sanding over Wilkerson, that drew ire.
“When you see a teammate down on the field… I’ve been around this game for a long time, and I think anybody that plays at this level understands when a guy is out. They know what that looks like, and I don’t think that’s the time to celebrate. I really don’t,” Slater said. “I don’t have a problem with the hit. I didn’t see it, but I think it was clean, from my understanding.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule ejected Robinson for taunting. However, the hot tempers on both sides continued.
Just minutes after the first skirmish was cleared and the teams returned to drills, Deatrich Wise hit Christian McCaffrey as he went out of bounds, leading to Panthers players pushing Wise into the stands and onto a fan. Wise’s actions led to an ejection from practice.
“My thoughts are with the woman that was hurt over there. I hope she’s ok,” said Rhule. “We sent Kenny off the field. I didn’t see the hit, but I did see him standing over the player. That’s not how we want to practice. Things happen in football. There were good clean hits, but we don’t stand over them and taunt them – it could affect their livelihood so we sent him off. The officials sent Chuba off… They said he threw a punch.”
As for the football itself, the Patriots’ passing game looked solid for the second straight day.
Mac Jones finished practice by completing 11/15 passes in 11-on-11 drills and 5/7 in 7-on-7 drills. The offense finished the morning with a touchdown and 2-point conversion in two-minute drills.
Jones threw two 25-yard touchdown passes, one to Jonnu Smith and one to Nelson Agholor, on the two snaps immediately following the second fight.
On the defensive side of the ball, Jalen Mills continued his dominant camp, making the play of the day after intercepting Sam Darnold during the 2-minute drill while covering DJ Moore. All observations throughout the summer point to Mills becoming the top corner heading into the regular season.
You can view more of the best moments from the final public training camp session in the social media postings below.
Former Patriots @Tedy_Bruschi and @koppen67 in attendance at training camp today. @NBC10 #patriots pic.twitter.com/bvpvuR097M
— Joe Kayata (@Joe_Kayata) August 17, 2022
Devante Parker(1) and Tyquan Thornton(11) working a WRs drill Wednesday at joint practice with Carolina. @wbz #PatsCamp pic.twitter.com/Fb2E4XmYeK
— Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) August 17, 2022
Pats receivers putting in work. pic.twitter.com/EVluNLb0vk
— Patriots on CLNS Media (@PatriotsCLNS) August 17, 2022
Troy Brown slinging it. pic.twitter.com/FQ7hnKqQku
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) August 17, 2022
https://twitter.com/mikekadlick/status/1559909634609233924?s=20&t=6oJpRVFJp88oJZE9Jw_S1A
Jalen Mills opens 1-on-1s with a PBU, then Myles Bryant grabs an INT during 2-on-2s. #Patriots defense back at it today.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 17, 2022
Ty Montgomery makes a one-handed grab over his head running along the end line against Duke Dawson
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) August 17, 2022
Jalen Mills picks up where he left off yesterday. Broke a pass to DJ Moore on the first rep of 1-on-1s and beat Moore in another rep
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) August 17, 2022
Jonnu Smith went 3-0 in 1-on-1s and also drew a hold.
Good contested grabs by Jakobi Meyers and Ty Montgomery. Montgomery's was a one-hander.
Both teams working on red zone.
— Zack Cox (@zm_cox) August 17, 2022
Workin’#PatsCamp | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/jrc6bMxvN6
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 17, 2022
Kenny Robinson, who got kicked out of practice for fighting Kristian Wilkerson, just lit up Wilkerson in a return drill. Looked like he knocked him out.
Patriots ST coach Cam Achord went after Robinson. So did Ronnie Perkins and multiple Patriots, including Matthew Slater
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) August 17, 2022
Kristian Wilkerson is down on the field after getting hit by Kenny Robinson during a kickoff drill. Those two were tossed from practice yesterday for fighting each other.
Cam Achord and Matthew Slater were both curious with the Panthers’ sideline
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) August 17, 2022
O yea we got something going here pic.twitter.com/DQvgP01Yp5
— AWLSabermetrics (@awlsabermetrics) August 17, 2022
A lot to sort out here …
Both teams huddling up separately. These joint practices are bordering on becoming non-productive. Teams can’t seem to find middle point.
DL Deatrich Wise Jr. has left practice. Might be an ejection. https://t.co/ceiksEKNQu
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 17, 2022
@ZoandBertrand @scottzolak the play leading to the fight pic.twitter.com/Dv2KnoIWyo
— Richie Aprile (@MikeyInTheTruck) August 17, 2022
Better view right here pic.twitter.com/z8VD9LDSEb
— Matthew Gilmete (@UnbiasPat) August 17, 2022
On the first play back from the brawl, Mac Jones hits a Jonnu Smith for a touchdown over Jeremy Chinn. That lit up the Patriots’ sideline
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) August 17, 2022
All hell has broken loose near the stands. Punches and pushing. Players on the far field ran over to the other field. This happened shortly after Wilkerson went down in another period that led to some pushing. Pats players weren’t happy about that; carried over to the next period
— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) August 17, 2022
Two red-zone beauties from Mac Jones to start off team drills.
First one to Jonnu Smith on a corner route that got down inside the five, then a perfectly lifted touchdown to Nelson Agholor, who outdueled two defenders for the ball before going out of bounds.
— Khari Thompson (@kdthompson5) August 17, 2022
Wow. Crazy scene at #PatsCamp. Large brawl between #Panthers and #Patriots. Fan appears to have been injured in the brawl. 2/x pic.twitter.com/Bfaxv7MJKs
— Shaun Ganley (@sganley) August 17, 2022
https://twitter.com/RochieWBZ/status/1559915459717304321?s=20&t=6oJpRVFJp88oJZE9Jw_S1A
https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/1559916271931740160?s=20&t=6oJpRVFJp88oJZE9Jw_S1A
Play of the Day candidate: Marcus Jones deflects a short sideline throw up to himself during red-zone drill, catches it and toe-taps inbounds for an INT.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 17, 2022
Play of the day: Nelson Agholor just caught a 20-yard TD from Mac Jones in double coverage. Neither Jaycee Horn nor Myles Hartsfield turned and Agholor jumped through them.
— Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) August 17, 2022
Highlight play: Mac Jones to Nelson Agholor in 11-on-11 red-zone drill, with Agholor leaping to beat double/triple coverage in right corner of end zone. Nice adjustment to ball in air by Agholor.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 17, 2022
Jalen Mills intercepted Sam Darnold and punted the ball in the air. Panthers players didn’t seem to love that.
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) August 17, 2022
Jalen Mills intercepts Sam Darnold's sideline pass for D.J. Moore on the first snap of Darnold's 2-minute drill and punts the ball in celebration.
Mills has looked like a genuine shutdown CB in training camp.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 17, 2022
Matthew Slater explains why he was upset with the reaction of some of the Panthers players after the hit on Kristian Wilkerson that caused today's brawl pic.twitter.com/qNArTYC3gb
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) August 17, 2022
"We saw our guy laid out in a period that's not necessary for that"
Devin McCourty reacts to Patriots brawl with Panthers pic.twitter.com/EhVGXG5jeU
— NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) August 17, 2022
“We’ve just been trying to get to that standard that we’ve set out to reach.”
Patriots players on the past two days of joint practices with Carolina. pic.twitter.com/7KRAmdYL17
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 17, 2022
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChYTEnXOcma/?hl=en
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