With joint practices in advance of a preseason game becoming all the rage during training camp, it has become rather common to see players needing to be separated after tempers flare and, sometimes, punches thrown.
Thursday morning’s joint practice session between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks became the latest instance of these training camp bruhahas after punches were thrown between the two sides.
After the joint practice, players from both teams met with the media and, as you would guess, the on-field fight was one of the major topics of conversation. As you can see from the clip below, courtesy of Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, Packers right tackle Zach Tom explained what he saw and why he chose to protect his teammates by throwing haymakers of his own.
Zach Tom says he threw haymakers at the Seahawks because they were in the Packers huddle and one of them swung at a teammate first.
“I just reacted.” pic.twitter.com/7oEnyCmyem
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 21, 2025
Packers’ Zach Tom Clears the Air Behind Joint Practice Fight with Seattle
“They were in our huddle and I saw somebody to my left got hit,” Tom told the media in attendance. “So, I just reacted…We were in our huddle, and they were in our huddle [before the fight]. I’m not sure who he pushed, but I saw him jump over the top of somebody and hit one of our guys. So, I just reacted after that.”
First and foremost, good on Tom for sticking up for one of his offensive teammates after a member of Seattle’s defense, allegedly, made physical contact with them. The primary job of an offensive lineman is to protect the quarterback and create holes for the running game. However, this reaction proves that Tom will not allow any opponent to intimidate his teammates.
Matt LaFleur certainly doesn’t want his players throwing punches on the field during games. That is the easiest way to be flagged, ejected, fined, and potentially suspended in the NFL. In this scenario, though, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if the $88 million man received a pat on the back once he reconvened with the coaching staff after the fight was broken up.
Hopefully, cooler heads prevail throughout the preseason finale for the two sides on Saturday afternoon at Lambeau Field.
