BACK IN THE SWING: In this much heat, it was only a matter of time until someone lost his cool.
During the morning workout, safety Dwight Smith started swinging at fullback Greg Comella, an altercation that spilled over to Smith confronting tackle Derrick Deese.
The incident occurred near the end of a four-minute drill in which the defense is behind by four points with 2:15 seconds remaining in a game.
"They've got to get the ball back," coach Jon Gruden said. "Offensively, we've got to run the ball, chew up the clock and finish the game on the field. There were some real physical plays off that corner where Smith likes to blitz and fortunately for the offense, Greg Comella was able to neutralize a couple of those charges."
Smith, who missed the first two days of training camp for personal reasons, made up with Comella during a weightlifting session.
"Just two guys who are competitive going at it," Smith said. "It usually happens the second week of practice, you get tired of seeing your own jersey, hitting your own jersey. Sometimes skirmishes break out."
Smith was restrained by fullback Mike Alstott and had a brief altercation with Deese before he was led away by defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
"That's all right, that's just football," Kiffin said. "We don't want fights. Jon doesn't like fights, and I don't like fighting. Dwight is a competitive guy. You can never get a penalty in a crucial situation, but this is practice and that won't affect the team."
Quote of the day
"If that doesn't motivate Joe to get off the bed and start running dig routes pretty soon, then nothing will." - Gruden on injured receiver Joe Jurevicius, whose wife, Meagan, gave birth to Caroline Elizabeth
