Football is a violent game. That’s never been in dispute. Yet, the violence should only ever be tolerated between the lines, and when the action is ongoing. The minute the whistle blows, it’s time to calm down and get your head right. That doesn’t always happen, and when it doesn’t, things can escalate pretty quickly.
On Wednesday, that’s exactly what happened with the Houston Texans. They witnessed one of the worst possible scenarios, teammates getting into fights. Two highly-touted teammates getting into a fight. Such an event is not exactly a rare occurrence but it’s never something you want to see happen. While some will cheer on such a spectacle and claim it’s good for a team, it never is. When teammates fight, especially when it’s a dirty fight, you cause problems in the team.
Sides are formed, animosity grows, and even if everyone says the right thing to the media, issues can, and usually do, still linger. That’s the concern we have right now after watching a video from Twitter/X, where Derek Stingley is shown hitting Dalton Schultz from behind, as the two walked towards the camera.
Schultz is seen taking his gear off as he heads to the sideline area when Stingley runs up from behind and pops him in the head. Shockingly enough, one reporter claims this was all because of Stefon Diggs.
According to DJ Bien-Aime, the whole scuffle started between Diggs and Jimmie Ward, which resulted in more people getting involved, leading to the cheap shot.
Too many people are going to claim that this is good, simply because it was pure physicality. Yet, if you can’t control your emotions in practice, against your teammates, there becomes a concern that you won’t be able to do so when it matters. We’ve seen far too often guys get too emotional, and overreact, costing their team significantly. Penalties, ejections, or suspensions can all be handed down if this were a real game. There are consequences to this type of behavior.
Stingley isn’t new, he’s been in the league long enough to know you don’t try cheap-shot guys after the play, let alone your teammates. The only hope is that someone can get in his ear and make him see the error of his ways. It’s one thing to have a dust-up while a play is ending. It’s another to go out of your way to headhunt your guy.
The Texans can’t afford their locker room getting divided over these types of antics. These are the types of fights that kill teams.
We’ve seen championship-caliber teams, in the NFL and elsewhere, blow their chances at success because of in-fighting. Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, Bill Romanowski and Marcus Williams, Michael Westbrook and Stephen Davis, Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas among others. It’s a situation that breeds animosity and distrust in one another. It’s not something that can be so easily overcome. That’s why top teams usually implode when this type of thing happens.
Not always, though. Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr famously got into a fight and got closer after. That’s not every situation.
Let’s hope that Stingley apologizes and tries to right this wrong so that it doesn’t fester and become a bigger issue than it needs to be.
