The Atlanta Falcons experienced aggressive skirmishes during practice, with rookie edge rusher James Pearce Jr. being involved in multiple altercations. The physicality escalated between players, including an incident with left guard Matthew Bergeron and right tackle Kaleb McGary. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich emphasized the importance of establishing a culture of aggression and managing emotions during intense moments to avoid retaliation. He highlighted that while tensions may rise during competitive drills, it's crucial for players to thrive without resorting to fighting.
We're trying to develop a culture, a style of play for sure, and part of that is the violence with which we play and aggression, the urgency and all that. Today, at times, it went a little too far and we've got to learn how to manage that.
You're going to get agitated and, especially when you're playing really good defense, the offense is going to get very agitated, so you've got to anticipate punches being thrown, things being said, people getting pushed.
In those moments, you got to thrive and not retaliate and so it's a good lesson to be learned today.
The key, Ulbrich said, is to stop before punches are thrown.
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