Posted on August 24, 2016, by Travis Pulver
These days, when the Seattle Seahawks have been in the news it is because someone else was thrown out of practice for fighting; usually defensive lineman Michael Bennett. However, the latest altercation to hit the newswire involved wide receiver Doug Baldwin and defensive back Richard Sherman–and resulted with Baldwin getting a few stitches to his face.
Since it was just a practice dustup among teammates, most people would leave it in the past and move on but not Baldwin.
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Rather than be quiet, let it go, and move on, it appears he has decided to stir the pot a little and call out Sherman, the other defensive backs, and defensive lineman Michael Bennett in the media:
“Obviously, tempers flare,” Baldwin said Tuesday, via The News Tribune. “Sherm’s really upset that we keep destroying him in practice. He’s upset that the receivers are getting the best out of him and the defensive backs this year. So he takes offense to that.”
As Kelso would say—burn!
Before their fight, Baldwin had burned Sherman and Earl Thomas for a long touchdown during Monday’s practice. Rather than wait and hit him on the next play, Sherman went after Baldwin before the snap.
Baldwin later admitted to stirring the pot but sees nothing wrong with a little chippiness in camp—as long as it doesn’t spill over onto game days.
The kind of stuff that went on between Baldwin and Sherman is nothing new. Offensive and defensive players typically do have a level of animosity between them, even if they are on the same team. But things took a different turn when he started talking about Michael Bennett.
Baldwin and Bennett got into it on Monday as well. Bennett had been fighting with one of the offensive linemen and had to be separated from him twice. According to media reports, Baldwin was trying to play peacemaker and calm Bennett down after the second time. But it didn’t work, and Bennett ended up going after him as well.
Bennett later justified his behavior by insinuating that an offensive lineman had played dirty in a one-on-one drill. To him, that broke the “code” and put the other guy’s career at risk. Bennett went on to equate the action to taking food out of his kid’s mouth (even though he was not the one initially involved).
Since he had the attention of the media Tuesday, Baldwin decided he would go ahead and call Bennett out as well by insinuating Bennett was being hypocritical about the “code” and what is really taking food out of his kids’ plates (NFL):
“I mean, yes, there is a ‘code.’ But Mike B. doesn’t always necessarily operate by that code, either,” Baldwin said.
“It’s hard to take him serious when he talks about other guys taking food off his kids’ plate — when he is driving around here with 10 different cars, you know?”
Ouch!
It’s easy for Baldwin to make cracks about food and cars since he signed a four-year, $46 million extension during the offseason, but Bennett would call Baldwin’s comments another example of breaking the “code,” and probably a little insulting.
If we hear about another fight taking place during a Seahawks practice, it will not be hard to guess who one of the participants may be. The only question may be who will be the one teaching Baldwin a lesson?