Brian Schottenheimer Sees Silver Lining in Fight Fest at Cowboys-Saints Practice

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer does not condone fighting at practice, but he did see at least one positive from the battles with the Saints.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The joint practice between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints on Tuesday will not be soon forgotten.

That's because there were countless fights during the session. We saw estimations as high as 10, but we would not rule out there having been even more than that.

The session had a little bit of everything.

There was shoving, punches thrown, and even a body slam — and the player doing the body slam was the son of WWE Hall of Famer, Scott Steiner. Cowboys safety Jalen Thompson was the victim.

#Saints WR Brock Rechsteiner, the son of WWE Hall Of Famer Scott Steiner, with an ALL-TIME slam of Cowboys S Jalen Thompson.

Rechsteiner is suspended six games for violating the NFL performance-enhancing substances policy. https://t.co/4CP16eIX40

— NOF (@nofnetwork) August 18, 2026

Brian Schottenheimer reacts to Cowboys-Saints fights

Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer at training camp at River Ridge Playing Fields. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After practice, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer reiterated how he doesn't tolerate fighting at practice and he certainly wasn't happy with how things went down overall.

However, he also sees the silver lining with the fact that his team showed it doesn't "take s***" from anyone.

“Look, we’re not gonna take s*** from anybody. Period. But they weren’t the only culprits. Ultimately, I’m disappointed — it was sloppy. A sloppy practice," Schottenheimer said, according to Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com.

Schottenheimer showed how little he tolerates fights at practice after he kicked Donovan Ezeiruaku out of practice earlier in camp for throwing a punch at right tackle Terence Steele.

Schottenheimer sat Ezeiruaku down to talk about how he can better handle his emotions when things get hot after his ejection that day, but we're not sure it changed Ezeiruaku's approach.

We can say that because Ezeiruaku was one of the Cowboys players who threw fists on Tuesday.

Things are getting way out of hand at Cowboys-Saints pic.twitter.com/6dz65OnRG9

— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) August 18, 2026

Schottenheimer said he and Saints head coach Kellen Moore, who is also the Cowboys' former offensive coordinator, thought about shutting practice down at one point.

When asked about what stood out about the practice other than the fights, Schottenheimer said he didn't know because he was "too busy playing referee."

Thompson, who was the victim of the aforementioned slam from Brock Rechsteiner, believes the Cowboys were the overall winners of the fights against the Saints.

“Of course we did. Come on now," Thompson said when asked if the Cowboys got the better of New Orleans, according to The Athletic's Jon Machota.

We've seen plenty of heated joint practices over the years, but this one might go down as the most heated ever.

Thankfully for everyone's well-being, the Saints and Cowboys will not have another joint practice after this one, but they will meet again in preseason Week 3.

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