Dan Quinn’s Brotherhood has eliminated training camp fights

Training camp fights used to be so common that I did not even realize they stopped happening. We famously saw Joe Hawley fight basically everyone, perhaps most famously on Hard Knocks.

Fans and coaches liked that the players showed aggressiveness during training camp, but it did not seem to ever translate to the field. We had an absurd number of fights in Mike Smith’s last year, and we also had the league’s worst defense and an abysmal offensive line.

Maybe fights just don’t help the team. That’s Dan Quinn’s thinking, per this cool video from Fox 5.

This seems to tie back to Quinn’s brotherhood mantra. You aren’t bringing together the team when guys are throwing fists. Matt Ryan commends the locker room and atmosphere in Flowery Branch for the lack of fights, and points out that fights distract from practicing.

Marquand Manuel highlighted the practical implications: breaking your hand against someone’s helmet is just stupid. He says Quinn has stressed that fights are not accepted with the team. The result has been very few, if any fights in recent memory.

We have covered Quinn’s team vibe for years. Players and coaches mention it frequently, and it seems to be a huge asset for the team. At least no one has been injured in fights.