Patriots and Panthers square off AGAIN in joint practice… marking FOUR FIGHTS in two days

There is a pantheon of great fighting sequels: Ali-Frazier II, Canelo-GGG II, Street Fighter II, just to name a few.

Now, we get to debate where Patriots-Panthers II ranks in that list.

After the gloves (and helmets) came off at practice in Foxborough yesterday, the bad blood spilled over once again at today’s inter-squad scrimmage. 

Yesterday, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Panthers coach Matt Rhule had to take their teams aside to calm the bad blood after five players were ejected from practice. 

Those players were Patriots receivers Kendrick Bourne and Kristian Wilkerson, Panthers DB Kenny Robinson, Patriots center James Ferentz, and Panthers tackle Phil Hoskins.

Today, Robinson and Wilkerson went at it again, with conflicting reports about Wilkerson going down by a hit or a non-contact injury during return drills.

Either way, Robinson stood over Wilkerson talking trash, as Patriots special teams coach Cam Achord led a group of Patriots players – including captain Matthew Slater – after Robinson.

Once the dust settled, the teams began 11 v 11 drills and the fighting broke out once again on the first play of the drill.

Patriots defensive lineman Deatrich Wise hit Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey hard out of bounds.

McCaffrey responded by throwing a ball at a Pats player and the second melee ensued, with Providence Journal reporter Mark Daniels saying Patriots defender Jabrill Peppers started throwing punches. 

After all was said and done, Wise and Robinson were ejected, as was Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard. 

These last two days saw fighting that surprised veteran ESPN Patriots reporter Mike Reiss, who said he’d, ‘never seen it get to this point in any joint practice with the Patriots in Bill Belichick’s tenure.’

The two teams meet again on Friday in a pre-season game at Gillette Stadium.