Things are getting heated at Carolina Panthers camp.
The Carolina Panthers had a heated practice on Monday (8/10).
After Mike Jackson hit Jonathan Brooks hard, Bryce Young took exception and started yelling at Jackson, who didn't back down.
Young and Jackson got heated with each other and Luke Fortner jumped in to defend his quarterback. Players had to be separated after the mini scuffle.
Following practice, Young, Jackson and Nick Scott spoke for well over 20 minutes on the side.
"Obviously at this point in camp, there's just a level of physicality that naturally happens," Scott said. "We haven't seen a different color in a long, long time. The pads have been on. It's hot and everything like that, so that's part of the game. You want it, but at the same time, there's an aspect of protecting the team and guys that you're going to need on Sunday for sure."
Even though the Panthers won the NFC South title last season, they finished with a sub-.500 record and needed help in Week 18 to win the division.
Dave Canales and Co. must prove this season that they didn't just benefit from playing in the league's weakest division.
"Fantastic practice, physical, competitive, passionate, all that stuff. The better each group, each side of the ball gets, the more it challenges each other to find those wins in the margins, and it takes it to another level," Canales said. "We had a little bit of a scuffle out there, and the response afterwards was more physicality and that's exactly where we should be. We got to play on that tiptoe, that line, wearing pads. We got to play football. That's the bottom line.
"But there's some situations where we can be smarter and take care of each other. So I think that's what the frustration ultimately was about. I'm all for it and I talked to the defensive guys, like don't back off on that. Let's just see where our wideouts, receivers, etc., where they're at in those situations. If they can't see you, thud them up and hold them up if they can see you. I want it to be like football other than just we're not going to the legs and all that. So some teachable moments on both sides really."
In a few days, the Panthers will face the Buffalo Bills in a preseason game in which starters will play. Just a couple of weeks after that, Carolina will be preparing for the season opener against the Chicago Bears.
This is the time of year when the level of intensity is really high.
"If practice was all kumbaya all day, I'd be a little worried," Scott said. "But it's not because we're coming out, we're trying to do something that hasn't been done here in a long time, and when the stakes are as high as that, the blood pressure raises, and if you can simulate camp in that series as it does play in and play out for guys that are going to be out there like that, that's the best case scenario."
