Cowboys practice erupts into pair of massive brawls with punches thrown

The Dallas Cowboys clearly have enough feistiness heading into the 2023 season, as seen in the final day of Cowboys practice.

Maybe a little Philly spirit is seeping into Dallas? The Cowboys 2022 season ended with a brawl (albeit one started by their fans), so it’s only fitting that their 2023 season begins with one.

Or two, to be exact.

On Wednesday, the final day of Dallas’ padded practice, Cowboys beat reporters looked on in awe and bewilderment as one of two fights broke out.

On a practice rep, defensive end Sam Williams got into it with center Brock Hoffman; Hoffman was continuing to block Williams after the whistle blew, and at the end of the play, the two players swatted at each other. Hoffman started to walk away, but Williams ran over to throw a jab at Hoffman’s body.

According to Patrik Walker, Williams and Hoffman had been acting chippy on previous reps, and their latest physical altercation was just the tipping point for each player’s boiling emotions.

What ensued was a full-on practice scrum with players from both sides swarming onto the field, forcefully shoving each other and creating nose-to-nose confrontations.

To add fuel to the fire, another heated brawl took place after the Williams-Hoffman skirmish, this time between star Micah Parsons and center Tyler Biadasz.

Cowboys practice gets ugly with two brawls to end the day

The video doesn’t clearly show who started the fight, but beat reporter Nick Harris points out that Parsons punched Biadasz first. Like before, opposing practice teams immediately swarmed at each other with a choice few players trying to de-escalate the situation.

You can make out Dak Prescott in his red jersey walking calmly over to the skirmish and helping calm Parsons down. “Just think about the 2023 DPOY award,” Prescott probably whispered into Parsons’ ear.

The Cowboys aren’t alone in their attempts to keep practice civilized. In the last few days, the Bengals-Packers and the Raiders-Rams joint practices included some wildly thrown punches, and the Bills camp also featured a player swinging his helmet.

All of this to say: players are probably tired of practicing. The 2023 NFL season couldn’t come quickly enough.