FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was involved in a scuffle during a joint practice Wednesday against the Tennessee Titans.
After completing a long pass to wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III, Penix and Titans defenders were talking trash with each other and things boiled over and got physical. Players from both teams ran in from the sidelines. Penix ended up in the middle of a pile and seemed to be thrown down to the grass.
«I don't know where I was at in it,» Penix said. «It was a lot of people. I knew I was down there somewhere. I wasn't the only one, though.»
Falcons wide receiver Drake London had to be pulled away from the skirmish by teammates. McCloud and several other Falcons players came to Penix's aid.
«I'm glad they did, because obviously that's not something that we want to be doing in practice,» Penix said afterward. «We want to get all reps in, get that good work in. But it went how it went. But to see the team have my back and they were there, make sure they protect me. A lot of guys asked me if I was good, and it was good to know that those guys had my back.»
Penix was uninjured in the scrum. He came back out for the next series. Tensions flared again one play later with Falcons offensive linemen Kaleb McGary and Chris Lindstrom getting into it with Titans. There was another scuffle shortly after on the adjacent field where the Falcons defense was going up against the Titans offense.
"[Penix] started it on that one, on Team One," said Titans linebacker Arden Key. «But again, those guys in Atlanta, they protected the quarterback, which they were supposed to do. O-line came in, did what they did and we wasn't allowing that, but that's what they were supposed to do.»
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