Bengals-Rams practice cut short after helmet-swinging melee

After a drama-free practice Wednesday, three separate incidents caused players to need separated, the last one including punches and L.A. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald smashing two Bengals helmets on the crowd of players surrounding him.

It started in the middle of practice when Cincinnati right tackle La’el Collins made a perfect block on Donald, allowing Joe Burrow to complete about a 50-yard pass to Ja’Marr Chase down the left sideline. As Chase made the catch, Collins and outside linebacker Leonard Floyd appeared to be going at each other briefly. The next play, Collins ripped off Floyd’s helmet and threw it and the two had to be separated again.

The teams quickly moved on to special teams, but the next 11-on-11 drill between the Bengals’ offense and Rams’ defense ended in a full-on melee and Cincinnati called it a day.

“Just got a little scuffling and so we just called it,” Taylor said after his team had left the field. “We were in the last period, and we got two really good days work in and so it wasn’t worth getting the extra couple of plays in and now we’ll get ready to play Saturday. ... Emotions run high. We’ve been working together for two days now and that’s just some real competitive guys getting into it.”

Taylor said the priority was getting everyone out of the practice healthy, and the Bengals had just three more plays to run in 11-on-11s anyway. The practice ended 50 minutes earlier than originally scheduled. Taylor noted he doesn’t expect any of those emotions to spill over into Saturday’s preseason game against the Rams. Most of the starters and players that were on the field during the skirmishes aren’t expected to play.

Despite the dust-ups to end the two days of work, Taylor found the sessions to be beneficial. He wouldn’t have held any joint practices if McVey hadn’t reached out, though, because most other teams interested in practicing with an opponent made their plans while the Bengals and Rams were preparing for the Super Bowl.

McVey, who served as Taylor’s mentor in 2017 and 2018 before the Bengals hired Taylor, offered to bring his team to Cincinnati, and it seemed a perfect match.

“When you got good relationships with the other staff that is helpful because you can communicate a little bit more freely instead of trying to sort out what is important to them at practice, how they manage their players,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to say it doesn’t work but it is probably a little easier when we have a relationship with the other coach.”

The relationship is one thing, but their practice styles also align so that made scripting out the two sessions easier. Taylor joked he stole the Rams’ practice phases and routine after his two years on McVey’s staff.

Practices on Wednesday and Thursday featured individual position group, one-on-one and 7-on-7 drills but the highlight was the full team periods with the Rams defense against the Bengals offense on one field and the Rams offense against the Bengals defense on the other. Special teams floated between the two.

“Everything is relatively seamless,” Taylor said. “... It’s much easier than working with any other team in the league because I have coached there. I know what the rhythm is to practice. Yeah, there is communication that has got to take place but at the same time as easy as it has been with any team in the league would be us going against the Rams.”

Taylor brought a lot of things from L.A. initially, including the base of his offense. Those first two seasons in 2019 and 2020, the Bengals watched a lot of Rams tape to understand what Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan were looking for in the offense, but Taylor’s spin on things started to become evident last year.

Quarterback Joe Burrow said it “morphed” into Taylor’s own offense, which he described simply: “Throw to our horses on the outside really far down the field.”

The Rams were a great test for that in an otherwise monotonous preseason for starters who don’t play the games. The Bengals receivers had a chance to match up against the likes of Jalen Ramsey, and similarly, Cooper Kupp and company gave the Bengals’ secondary a good challenge they haven’t seen this preseason with most starters not playing. It especially should have been helpful for guys like rookie safety Dax Hill, as he adjusts to life in the NFL with the expectation of being a regular contributor to the Cincinnati defense.

Rookie Cordell Volson had a chance to face Donald, who he likely won’t see Saturday in the preseason game. Maybe now that is for the best.

Volson took all the first-team left guard reps Wednesday and Thursday and is expected to play a lot Saturday, though it seems he has created some cushion in the battle for the starting job over Jackson Carman.

“It’s a great experience playing against great players that help bring out the best in you,” Volson said before practice Thursday. “Iron sharpens iron, as they say, so I got a chance to compete against the best obviously. I wanted to do it, and he’s a great player obviously.”