In Friday morning’s practice, Steve Smith and Ken Lucas got into an altercation on the sidelines during a special teams drill. Lucas was carted off holding an ice bag to his eye. Afterward, Mushin Muhammad walked Smith over to the tent in which Lucas was being tended to by trainers, and Smith apparently appeared to be apologetic.

Not much is known about what provoked the fight, just that Smith put a beating on Lucas. To some extent fighting like this is always going to be a part of football, guys getting frustrated and so on, but what worries me about this fight is that it happened on the sidelines, not during a drill. I can see Smith getting caught up in the heat of the moment and hitting Lucas, but the fact that it was after the play on the sidelines, with helmets off, make it look as if there may be more to this fight than just a heated play during practice.

This has not been the first altercation that Smith has had with another teammate. Back in 2002, Smith got into a fight with a player during a film session and sent him to the hospital with a broken nose. Also, there have been a number of on field incidents during the season in which Smith has gotten into it with other players, even being kicked out of a Dallas game after arguing with a referee. Smith clearly has some anger management issues that still have to be dealt with so he doesn’t continue to beat up his teammates.

Though both Smith and Lucas weren’t at practice for the afternoon session, the Rock Hill Herlad reported that John Fox has said that Smith’s absence from practice that afternoon was preplanned for a family matter, contrary to reports saying he was sent home. Either way the situation was quickly cleared up, but look for the media to blow this way out of proportion. As for possible suspensions, a regular season suspension doesn’t seem likely since Smith means so much to the team, but I would expect the Panthers will suspend him for a preseason game or two, or fine him. The question is though, is this appropriate for the fight?

As for chemistry concerns, I think because this was between an offensive and defensive player, there isn’t much to worry about because there doesn’t really need to be chemistry between those guys. And, I know how incredibly stupid this was on Smith and Lucas’s part, but these kinds of things happen during training camp, guys get their feathers ruffled and go at it, let’s just hope that no one is seriously hurt. And hey, at least they appear to be passionate this early in training camp.

It has been reported as well that Ken Lucas does have a facial injury, but the extent of the injury is still unknown.

We’ll try and get updates as to what caused the altercation and possible punishments as they come in.

Tags: carolina panthers, ken lucas, steve smith