Joe Burrow Hit During Cincinnati Bengals' Practice, Leading to Training Camp Fight

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was knocked to the ground during Wednesday's practice. Rookie Shemar Stewart hit the Bengals' star early in an 11-on-11 period.

It's worth noting that Stewart was off balance and the hit appeared to be unintentional. At the same time, it doesn't matter.

Protecting Burrow makes sense. He's the franchise. Everything begins and ends with him.

Last season I was critical of the Bengals' offensive line for not being more aggressive and going after opponents that would deliver questionable hits on Burrow.

It was a theme of the season ... And it was unacceptable. Just like any practice hit on Burrow is unacceptable.

Stewart and the Bengals' defensive front won the day. From TJ Slaton to Stewart and Joseph Ossai, Cincinnati's offensive line struggled to protect.

"Just be smarter," Ted Karras said in the locker room when asked about Stewart's hit on Burrow. "That's all our hopes and dreams right there. We've [the offensive line] got to be better too. That's on us... "But today the D kicked our ass, and we had to respond a little bit. We had some fire. It was in a way that we were still executing plays, but there were some scuffles at the end."

The Bengals were without starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who wasn't on the practice field. Cincinnati's defensive front would've had multiple sacks throughout the session. Slaton and Stewart both beat Patrick on different plays during practice.

Burrow wasn't hurt and finished the practice, but it was certainly not something anyone on the practice field wanted to see. The Bengals know that their chances of making a championship run are based on the right arm of No. 9.

Patrick may have struggled during Wednesday's practice, but he did the right thing by defending Burrow and making it clear to the rookie that the quarterback is off limits—whether the hit was intentional or not.

Watch multiple angles of the play that led to the scuffle below. For more thoughts on the fight, watch this video.

I was following the ball so the camera pans away, but this is the play where Shemar Stewart hit Joe Burrow ...

It led to the scuffles between Stewart, Lucas Patrick and the Bengals' offensive and defensive lines. https://t.co/hdLrMaTz0C pic.twitter.com/kJQnwogmnh
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) August 13, 2025

First real scuffle of training camp just broke-out during team 11-on-11, first team offense/defense.#Bengals @WCPO pic.twitter.com/51gitfiBiR
— Caleb Noe (@CalebNoeTV) August 13, 2025

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