This Friday's practice session for the Las Vegas Raiders was quite animated, according to Vincent Bonsignore of the California Post.
Kirk Cousins, who'll make $20 million fully guaranteed this fall, wasn't thrilled about Raiders star Maxx Crosby hitting his throwing arm multiple times during practice. After the Pro Bowler made contact with him a second time, he ran up to him and shoved him in the chest.
"Immediately after Crosby again made contact with Cousins’ throwing arm following a pass, the quarterback charged toward him, delivered a not-so-subtle shove to the chest and accompanied it with some choice words and a stern warning to knock it off," Bonsignore wrote. "A momentarily stunned Crosby quickly went into attack mode himself, getting directly into Cousins’ face. The two continued barking at each other until teammates stepped between them and broke things up."
No punches were thrown, but Cousins certainly made it clear that he won't let Crosby boss him around on the field.
Candice Ward-Imagn Images.
What did the Raiders have to say about this incident?
Raiders tight end Michael Mayer had no issue with Cousins' passion in practice, that's for sure.
“That’s our starting quarterback right now, and you want him to defend your team,” Mayer said. “You want him to have some edge to him, which he does.”
As for Raiders coach Klint Kubiak, he gave the type of response you'd expect to see from the team's leader.
"Those are two leaders of our team going at it," Kubiak said. "So, that is part of camp. Obviously, you fight in a game, you throw a punch in the game, especially, then you’re out of the game. So, we’ve got to be smart, treat it like a game."
Cousins is expected to be the Raiders' starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13. Let's just say he won a lot of trust from his teammates this Friday.
