Minkah Fitzpatrick provides the perfect response to Jets-Buccaneers joint practice brawls

The New York Jets wrapped up their second day of joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday, a two-day period of messy football from New York's offense and what felt like an MMA event given the amount of reported fights that broke out during intrasquad scrimmages.

On Tuesday, three separate fights broke out, with three Jets youngsters-- David Bailey, Armand Membou, and Darrell Jackson Jr. all appearing at the center of the scrums. A welcome sign that some of the core players of this youthful team aren't willing to let slights slide.

Wednesday was seemingly no different, except the veterans got involved. Dylan Parham and Tim Patrick got in on the action, while even a Jets coach got into it verbally with Buccaneers defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson, per SNY's Connor Hughes.

While all of the fighting seemed a bit counterintuitive to what was supposed to be happening at One Jets Drive these last few days, it at least shows that each team has enough pride to defend themselves and their teammates.

That, or it's just been too long since these players were able to hit someone who wasn't their own teammate.

New York Jets DB Minkah Fitzpatrick says sometimes you just have to 'whoop a dude'

After practice, Jets safety and senior voice of the defense, Minkah Fitzpatrick, provided some insight into the brawls between his squad and the Buccaneers.

"It's football. It's a physical game. It's hard to tell people not to... defend themselves and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, you gotta put your ego and your pride to the side sometimes and just whoop a dude in between the whistles."

Fitzpatrick revealed that head coach Aaron Glenn tried to dissuade his players from getting involved in the skirmishes and believed his teammates did a better job of not responding to the "provocations" from some of the Buccaneers' players.

Regardless, some fights still occurred, but there were fewer repeat offenders from Tuesday, aside from Bailey, who got into a verbal altercation with Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield, according to The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt.

All in all, no harm, no foul from these past two days of joint practices. No player was hurt in any scuffle, aside from maybe a few bruised egos. (Looking at you, Luke Goedeke.)

We'll see if any of the intensity carries over into Friday night's preseason opener, where most of the Jets' starters are expected to get several reps.

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