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The last play was a 60-yard pass from Bradlee Van Pelt to Darius Watts up the right sideline, beating coverage from Tyler Everett and Hamza Abdullah to give the crowd one last chance to roar before the double-horn sounded at the end of practice. But what had onlookers buzzing was the donnybrook that erupted among David Kircus and Domonique Foxworth during punt-return drills midway through the practice.
The opening act came when Curome Cox blocked Kircus -- operating as a gunner -- to the ground. On the next play, Kircus knocked Cox's helmet off, and Foxworth jumped in. The two jostled, with Foxworth getting his hands in Kircus' face and turning his helmet sideways. Yelling ensued, and special-teams coach Ronnie Bradford stepped in and shepherded Foxworth away.
As I wrote the scene down in my notes, my mind drifted to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Ron's assessment of the news teams' rumble:
"Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast!"
But Head Coach Mike Shanahan ensured that would not be the case at Dove Valley. When that period of practice ended, he convened the team for a midfield huddle and let them know that such actions would not be tolerated.
"If you lose your poise out here, you're going to lose it in the game," Shanahan said when the session was done. "(Teams have) lost a number of games because people can't keep their poise, so you can't have it in practice."
The afternoon special-teams practice was cancelled. The team has a walk-through practice Friday morning, which will be open to the public, but the full-scale camp sessions have concluded for another year.
The opening act came when Curome Cox blocked Kircus -- operating as a gunner -- to the ground. On the next play, Kircus knocked Cox's helmet off, and Foxworth jumped in. The two jostled, with Foxworth getting his hands in Kircus' face and turning his helmet sideways. Yelling ensued, and special-teams coach Ronnie Bradford stepped in and shepherded Foxworth away.
As I wrote the scene down in my notes, my mind drifted to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Ron's assessment of the news teams' rumble:
"Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast!"
But Head Coach Mike Shanahan ensured that would not be the case at Dove Valley. When that period of practice ended, he convened the team for a midfield huddle and let them know that such actions would not be tolerated.
"If you lose your poise out here, you're going to lose it in the game," Shanahan said when the session was done. "(Teams have) lost a number of games because people can't keep their poise, so you can't have it in practice."
The afternoon special-teams practice was cancelled. The team has a walk-through practice Friday morning, which will be open to the public, but the full-scale camp sessions have concluded for another year.
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