Cam Ward baits Jeffery Simmons into committing NFL cardinal sin during scuffle at Titans training camp practice

NFL Training Camp becomes a real grind as you near the end of August. The days are hot, the taste of real football just over the horizon begins to feel like a tease. Players are ready to take the kid gloves off and really play ball, really hit somebody. So tempters flare. And at Tennessee Titans practice on Monday, a rare brand of camp fight broke out. This one was between the star rookie QB and the star defender.

Yes, Cam Ward and Jeffery Simmons got into a fight. I'm writing about it because, frankly, not much else notable came from this practice. However, it's also an exciting moment when a fight breaks out. That's especially the case when a quarterback is involved. They wear the red jerseys for a reason: you don't touch those guys. But in a brief moment of frustration, Simmons broke that cardinal rule. In fairness to him, Ward absolutely asked for it.

It was a low red zone drill at the tail end of one of the hottest padded practices all year. The defense had won a number of reps in a row. Suddenly, the offense broke through on the ground when RB Julius Chestnut got the edge and reached the front corner of the end zone before CB Roger McCreary could hawk him down. The offense celebrated, the defense was frustrated. This group of defenders is built to stop the run, and it's a real point of pride for them.

The very next play, Ward hit WR Calvin Ridley in the back corner of the endzone for an impressive touchdown. CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr. was in coverage. It was a high-level pass and catch, and the offense's energy shot up as a result. Ridley was immediately talking smack to Brownlee and seemingly anybody else who would listen. Then, Ward singled out Simmons. Ward walked up among the trenches and gave Simmons a shove in the back. Simmons whipped around and was met with a very disrespectful celebration in his face from Ward. It was Ward's signature move, covering his face with one hand and waving a limp zombie hand out in front. Simmons wasn't taking that from anybody in that moment, not even the star QB. So, he gave Ward a hard shove in the chest.

Every offensive player in the area, mostly linemen, naturally took great issue with that. As LT Dan Moore told the media after practice, the answer to whether anybody should ever lay hands on his QB is "absolutely not." Simmons was swarmed, and a large scuffle broke out. It ended quickly, almost like everybody understood the gravity of Simmons and Ward — the biggest stars and biggest smack talkers on each side of the ball — getting into it with one another.

Those two are friends, and this is how they roll: hot. It didn't need to become something massive, and it didn't. The coaches hardly reacted to the surprising scene. Simmons walked off and didn't return to the drill, which was almost over anyway. But that kind of thing gets most players kicked out of a drill, if not a whole practice, so he needed to go for a moment.

I'll leave you with Brownlee Jr.'s thoughts on the fight from after practice, because he summed it up perfectly:

"It just shows you the level of competition, man. It shows you that the offensive guys, they care about winning. The defensive side, they care about winning.

And, you know, you've got to have a 'next play' mentality. You never want to see a quarterback in the middle of those types of things. But when it does happen, it just shows you the level of dog he got in him. He ain't going to take nothing. It shows you how much he cares about his offense, how much he cares about winning. That goes for both sides of the ball with Jeff and him. You get that same attitude, that same confidence, that same edge each and every day out of those two guys. They never change. So that's what you expect.

But when it does happen with our quarterback, we try to break it up as soon as possible, fix it as soon as possible. But for me, I feel like it's a great thing... brothers fight. And at the end of the day, as long as we've all got each other's backs, we're all connected, we've all got that bond, and we all got that same connection where we're going to fight for one another, then that's the most important thing at the end of the day."