One of the themes of NFL training camps in recent years has been joint practices between franchises looking to simulate more of a live game situation and up the competitiveness for players who are likely grown bored by battling their own teammates traing camp practice after training camp practice after training camp practice. Along with this trend has come an uptick in training camp fights. The Washington Redskins and Houston Texans got in on the act already this offseason, captured in great detail by the cameras of HBO's "Hard Knocks," and the Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Rams decided to join the fray on Tuesday. While the fights are usually quickly broken up and the fisticuffs between helmeted and padded players usually look and sound much worse than they really are, the scrum between the Cowboys and Rams did turn out to be pretty rough for at least on high-profile player.
Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant took a punch from Rams defensive back Imoan Claiborne straight to the nose, which you can see for yourself here.
After reviewing the tape, it was #Rams DB Imoan Claiborne who hit #Dez Bryant. The Rams have double numbers. pic.twitter.com/9ZOt0oaBpN
— Joe Trahan (@JoeTrahan) August 19, 2015
That's a heck of a right by Claiborne. And you can see it stuns Bryant.
Afterward, Bryant took to Twitter to vent about the altercation and that apparent jeers he was hearing from NFL fans, per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.
"I wish I would have cheap shot his ass then all of y'all would have seen the difference," Bryant said. "You can't even put that sh-t on world star lol."
Of course, Bryant has since deleted the tweet.
It's not the first training camp fight Bryant or the Cowboys have been in. Bryant went at it with a teammate earlier this month and the Cowboys locked horns with players from another team last offseason. In the end though, little will likely come of it, as the NFL silently enjoys the uptick in media attention that comes along with such pugilism.
And Bryant can probably rest easy considering his spot on the Cowboys and near the top of the list of best wide receivers in the NFL is all-but-assured, while Claiborne will likely struggle just to carve out a spot, let a lone a role, on the Rams 53-man roster.
