Logan Mankins: New England Patriots will ‘fight when it’s time to fight’
By Cory Buck
The New England Patriots may be holding joint practices like just about every other team in the NFL right now, but the team plans to conduct themselves differently than has been the trend of late. On strict orders from Bill Belichick, the Patriots aren’t engaging in any of the fights so commonly associated with NFL training camp.
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“We try to learn self-control,” Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins said via Patriots.com. “If you fight in practice it’s easy to do something stupid in the game and get a personal foul. We try to hold that anger in. No retaliating.”
The Patriots have long been one of the more cerebral teams in the NFL, and this should come as no surprise. After a few spats in the 2012 training camp, Belichick instituted a strict no-fighting policy that has been respected by veterans and young kids alike.
One might think Mankins and the Patriots would give up some motivational fire in keeping an even keel at practice, but Mankins emphatically disagreed, assuring reporters otherwise. “We’ll fight when it’s time to fight.”
The next fight for New England comes against the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom the team has been holding joint practices in the week leading up to the game.