NFL Issues Memo Reminding Teams to Try Not to Fight

The NFL seems intent on keeping all the fighting we’ve seen and heard about in various training camps this summer from spilling over into games.

According to the Associated Press, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent issued a memo to all 32 teams on Friday that names fighting as a point of emphasis for officials this preseason. That means officials will be looking for it and, per the rules, handing out 15-yard penalties to those found guilty of the infraction. If it is deemed to be flagrant, the player will be ejected from the game.

The entire memo could really be boiled down to the league policy that says, “Don't fight, and if a fight breaks out involving other players, stay away.”

Fighting has been a recurring theme of the 2015 preseason. The Cowboys had the first big fight of the summer when Dez Bryant and Tyler Patmon mixed it up in a training camp practice last week. The Texans fought the Redskins in a joint camp practice, as documented by HBO’s Hard Knocks and then, of course, Jets’ quarterback Geno Smith was lost for at least 6-10 weeks when linebacker IK Enemkpali punched him in the face.