The Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals ended their joint practice early on Thursday after multiple fights broke out.
Reports indicated that Rams All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald wielded and swung around at least one Bengals player's helmet amid one of the skirmishes.
"It got a little scuffley, and so we just called it," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. "We were in the last period. We got two really good days of work in. Was it worth getting the extra couple of plays? No. So we called it off. We got two good days of work in and we'll go play on Saturday."
Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters he was not sure what caused the fights.
"I think in some instances teams defending each other," McVay said, per The L.A. Times. "Fortunately, my understanding is nobody got hurt and we'll move on from it. Not going to make a bigger deal than what it is. Not going to look at pointing fingers."
Taylor declined to get into what caused the fracas.
"I won't get into what happened, it's over, we got two days of work in and everybody's healthy," Taylor said.
NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported that clubs, not the league, are responsible for overseeing players' conduct at practice. Thus, it's unlikely the league would discipline Donald or any other players for their roles in Wednesday's dustups, Pelissero added. Teams, however, can discipline their players for practice conduct.
The teams that met in Super Bowl LVI reprised the action with the first of two sessions on Wednesday, which went off without a hitch. Thursday, however, saw multiple fights break out on the field — and Bengals offensive lineman La'el Collins and Rams linebacker Leonard Floyd reportedly were at the center of two of the bigger ones.
At one point, Collins reportedly threw Floyd's helmet at Floyd, leading to masses of players from both teams throwing punches, yelling, pushing and shoving. Collins and Floyd went at it again during the second major fight.
Eventually, the coaches had seen enough. After the two teams were separated, they canceled the remainder of the practice session.
The two teams will meet in Saturday's preseason finale.
