Celina viewers scrolling Cowboys headlines Thursday found a league crackdown, not a box score. fortworthweekly.news' account of the fine, the NFL fined the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints $500,000 each on Thursday after unsportsmanlike behavior at their Tuesday Oxnard joint practice. Fox 4 also covered the matching fines in local television reporting that aligned with the AP and NFL.com accounts.
Joint practices sit outside a full broadcast truck setup, which is why the league's video request, as AP described it, mattered to the review.
Why joint practices are under review
NFL.com published the league statement linking the penalties to the Competition Committee's sportsmanship campaign and a pre-camp memo. The same NFL.com report noted a July memo, previously reported by ESPN, holding coaches and players to high professionalism standards during joint practices. AP reported that the NFL requested video of the Oxnard workout before announcing fines.
The flashpoints that drew the fine
AP recorded multiple skirmishes with punches, Rechsteiner body-slamming Thompson, McCoy throwing a Cowboys helmet, and an ugly McCoy-Ezeiruaku exchange that ended with Ezeiruaku ejected for the second time in camp. Schottenheimer and Moore discussed stopping early. Schottenheimer said Dallas did not handle discipline well; Moore referred to "non-football stuff."