Two players ejected after Broncos-Niners camp skirmish: 'We won the second day'

The San Francisco 49ers rolled into Denver to hold a couple of joint-practice sessions with the Broncos ahead of their Monday night preseason bout.

On day one, the Niners "got after" the Broncos. Denver's offense, especially, seemed to be pushed around during Friday's practice.

"I think we went into it as this was going to be a practice," Broncos' RB Phillip Lindsay told 9NEWS' Mike Klis on Saturday. "They came into it as a game. And they shocked us a little bit. We didn’t get knocked down but we got stung. We regrouped and you see us out there today?”

By all accounts, the Broncos as a team played with significantly more intensity on Saturday, after allowing the Niners to set the tone on day one. Clearly, despite being told by head coach Vic Fangio that fighting will not be tolerated, the Broncos' offense went into practice No. 2 ready to throwdown if need be.

Two scuffles ensued. The first appeared to involve Broncos' RB David Williams with a lot of jawing back and forth. The second included Broncos' WR Brendan Langley and TE Bug Howard.

Langley and Howard were subsequently tossed from practice by the Broncos' coaches. That's what Fangio told his assistants to do in case of a fight.

“I wasn’t there so I don’t know the details, but I instructed the coaches that if something happened extracurricular that they deemed needed to be removed from the field, do it," Fangio said following Saturday's practice. "I don’t know all of the details.”

The details aren't exactly clear. What is crystal, however, is that the Broncos weren't going to allow the Niners to set the tone on day two. And if that meant throwing a few punches and hollering, so be it.

Another skirmish/fight between Broncos offense and 49ers defense. Phillip Lindsay threw a fist. Everybody in there. Might have started a few player earlier.

Oh boy.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) August 17, 2019

Lindsay is a firebrand. If indeed he threw hands, the Broncos' coaches selectively chose not to eject him from the day's proceedings. That's a benefit of having some Pro Bowl clout, I guess.

It was an emotional, intense day for the Broncos. And it was exactly the type of competitive fire I had hoped to see on day two of the joint-practice sessions with the Niners.

Starting QB Joe Flacco could be heard cursing it up and his teammates reinforced that intensity with their own play. A few expletives never hurt anyone on the grid-iron.

"They won the first day, we won the second day and we got a game on Monday for the championship," Emmanuel Sanders told Klis.

Vic Fangio, after watching the film from day one, didn't like what he saw, especially from the offense. While OC Rich Scangarello talked about wanting to see more energy from his unit on day two, Fangio didn't think 'energy' was lacking on the part of the Broncos.

“No. I didn’t feel more energy," Fangio said with regard to day two. "I think more of what you’re alluding to is there was some chirping and trash-talking going on towards the end of yesterday’s practice and I think it carried over a little bit to today. That’s about it.”

From the players' perspective, the Broncos bounced back and 'won' day two's joint-practice session with the Niners. When pride is on the line, a pro is going to step it up, damn the consequences.

As Sanders alluded to, the Broncos and Niners can settle the final score on Monday night. Sounds like there might be more fireworks in this exhibition than the usual preseason game.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.