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NFL makes an example of Cowboys and Saints with matching $500K fines

After years of Competition Committee warnings on joint-practice sportsmanship, Dallas and New Orleans were each docked half a million dollars.

Emmett Hollis

August 22, 20262 min read

Howe's NFL audience saw the league put a dollar figure on joint-practice misconduct Thursday. fortworthweekly.news' account of the fine, the NFL fined the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints $500,000 each on Thursday after unsportsmanlike behavior at their Tuesday Oxnard joint practice. Fox 4 also covered the matching fines in local television reporting that aligned with the AP and NFL.com accounts.

Joint practices sit outside a full broadcast truck setup, which is why the league's video request, as AP described it, mattered to the review.

The memo trail behind the fine

NFL.com published the league statement linking the penalties to the Competition Committee's sportsmanship campaign and a pre-camp memo. The same NFL.com report noted a July memo, previously reported by ESPN, holding coaches and players to high professionalism standards during joint practices. AP reported that the NFL requested video of the Oxnard workout before announcing fines.

Incidents cited from Oxnard

AP recorded multiple skirmishes with punches, Rechsteiner body-slamming Thompson, McCoy throwing a Cowboys helmet, and an ugly McCoy-Ezeiruaku exchange that ended with Ezeiruaku ejected for the second time in camp. Schottenheimer and Moore discussed stopping early. Schottenheimer said Dallas did not handle discipline well; Moore referred to "non-football stuff."

What comes next on the schedule

Jones told AP the fine was "pretty stiff" and that Dallas will appeal while also fining its own players. He said scenes with helmets off and punches are "certainly not what we want to represent to our fans as a league or as a team," per AP. NFL.com noted Saturday's Cardinals game remains next on Dallas's preseason slate.

AP reported the Saints continued California work and held a clean joint practice with the Rams on Thursday. Howe readers can treat fortworthweekly.news's citation trail — AP, NFL.com, and the league statement — as the factual baseline.

Sources

https://fortworthweekly.news/article/nfl-s-joint-practice-crackdown-hits-cowboys-and-saints-with-500k-fines-apiece

https://apnews.com/article/cowboys-saints-practice-fines-379642b637ebef52f0147757a61aba01

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-fines-cowboys-saints-500k-each-for-unsportsmanlike-behavior-at-joint-practice

https://www.fox4news.com/sports/dallas-cowboys-fined-500000-multiple-fights-joint-practice-saints

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Emmett Hollis

Emmett Hollis covers Howe high school sports and athletics across the area.

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