NASHVILLE — The first padded practice sparked the first fight of Titans training camp Saturday, as a scrap between free safety Michael Griffin and wide receiver Michael Preston escalated into a brawl of about 20 players.
The incident began when Griffin grabbed wide receiver Nate Washington after a pass play. Griffin said he was trying to hold Washington up, but there was apparently some miscommunication because Griffin and Preston were soon trading blows.
Players swarmed to the fight, which occurred just in front of a fence separating fans from the field.
"It was a little scuffle," Preston said. "It's part of football. It's going to happen sometimes when you're out there competing against each other on a high level. … Neither one of us wanted to back down. You move on from it, and you keep helping each other get better."
Said Griffin: "The DBs are going to stick up for DBs and receivers stick up for receivers. One thing leads to another. It's kind of the nature they're trying to put into us. Stick up for your brotherhood, go out there and play hard and play physical."
Griffin said the incident probably got out of hand, however.
"At the end of the day, it don't need to get to that," he said. "There was a trash can over there, and people were falling over, people trying to break it up. It didn't need to get to that."
Griffin admitted to throwing the first punch, so he told coach Mike Munchak that he was willing to pay all fines that might be handed out.
"I got no problem with that," Preston said with a laugh.
Munchak's take on the whole thing: "It was mainly a lot of little guys trying to look tough. They just have to be smarter, that's all."
Glennon writes for The (Nashville) Tennessean, a Gannett property.
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