A History of NFL Fistfights

Steve Smith's smackdown of cornerback Ken Lucas was not exactly fair. Lucas was on one knee and helmetless when Smith, the speedy wide receiver, swung on him and broke his nose. But it's neither the first, nor last, on-field fistfight.

When Washington Redskin wide receiver Michael Westbrook sucker punched teammate Stephen Davis at training camp, neither were wearing helmets nor pads. Local cameras caught the jaw-breaking shot and Westbrook was socked $50,000 by the irate Redskins.

Today, Westbrook is a professional Brazilian Jiu-jitsu fighter.

Let's hope he fares better than ex-Lion wide receiver Johnnie Morton who was brutally knocked out in 38 seconds in his MMA debate.

GM Matt Millen once challenged Morton to a fight during a heated postgame confrontation. Apparently the burly GM spotted a weakness in Morton's game early.

Millen was also involved in the famed Howie Long-Billy Sullivan dust up in Los Angles. Long, playing for the Raiders, was verbally abused from the sidelines by the Patriots' GM—the New England Patriots' owner's son—for an entire Raiders-Patriots game.

As an angry Long left the field, Sullivan continued to bait him viciously until Raider linebacker Matt Millen cracked him, rather lightly, considering his options, on his head with his helmet. 

Luckily for Sullvian, steroid raged Lye Alzado, whose self-proclaimed speciality was ripping off opponents' helmets and using them as modern-day maces, was no longer a Raider at the time of the melee.

Perhaps the most physically damaging on-field fight was also between Raiders, when steroid-fueled madman Bill Romanowski ripped off teammate Marcus Williams's helmet and punched him in the face during practice.

Williams's orbital bone was broken over his right eye, and he still has blurred vision from the unfortunate incident.

Coaches go at it as well. The most famous incident caught on film was Buddy Ryan's rather sad swipe at offensive coordinator Kevin Glibride's head during a nationally-televised game.

Both men were on the Houston Oilers' staff at the time, and Ryan was particularly upset at Gilbride's run-and-shoot offense. Buddy called it the chuck and duck, which he though failed to give his defense proper rest with its constant passing.

Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was in a long-running feud with Bears coach Mike Ditka. And the on-field cold war nearly turned hot at the most crucial moment in one of the most storied games in NFL history.

At halftime during the Monday Night Football game between the undefeated '85 Chicago Bears and the Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins. Ditka became enraged when Ryan refused to insert a fifth defensive back into the game.

Ryan stubbornly insisted that he ran the defense, and that Wilbur Marshall could cover wide receiver Nat Moore one-on-one. Ditka suggested he and Ryan step outside the locker room and settle how to stop Nat Moore that way.

Ryan responded with a profanity-laced opinion of Ditka's mental state and play calling, then the two coaches crashed into the showers, swinging shots at each other's hard heads. Astounded players quickly separated them.

Bears players were a bit bemused and annoyed at the whole affair. After all, their undefeated season was on the line, and the coaches should have been scheming to stop Dan Marino's passes, not shouting threats and curses at one another.

No hard blows actually landed in the brief battle, but Ditka said, long afterwards in a press conference about Ryan when the Bears were preparing to play the then-Ryan-coached Philadelphia Eagles.

"This is about the Bears and the Eagles. If it was between Ditka and Ryan, we all know who would win," Ditka point his thumbs at himself and said.

"Ditka."

The most embarrassing knockdown for an NFL player was when New England Patriot cornerback Raymond Clayborn was knocked into a laundry basket by reporter Will McDonough.

An irritated Clayborn had shoved an older man, and McDonough berated him about it. The cornerback loomed in the reporter's face, pushing a finger into his eye, and McDonough decked him.

McDonough wasn't your average reporter. It wasn't like threatening to bodyslam the elfish Bob Costas.

Growing up on the rough streets of South Boston, McDonough had learned to fight. The reporter was boyhood friends with the notorious Bulger brothers of Boston, and he knew they, and Southie, would be ashamed if he didn't defend himself when attacked. 

Other times, reporters have not fared so well. Once, New York Jet QB Richard Todd roughly grabbed NY Post beat reporter Steve Serby and stuffed him in a locker.

The old Alabama QB didn't appreciate the New York writer's wit, apparently.

With all the pads, helmets, and gear most on field fights are meaningless.

The great boxer Archie Moore said the only football player he ever saw land a meaningful  punch on the football field was when Pittsburgh Steeler defensive tackle Joe Green threw a vicious left hook to the liver of a Houston Oiler lineman during an on field fight.

"That", the impressed "Old Mongoose" said, "was thought out and thrown to an area where you can hurt someone and not break you hand on a helmet."

Some ex-players are training to be professional MMA fighters.

Besides Westbrook, ex-Raider DT Bob Sapp, ex-Giant FB Jarrod Bunch, NCAA wrestling champion and ex-Steeler G Carleton Haselrig, and ex-Bear DE Alonzo Spellman, who was last seen fighting a dozen cops in Detroit and threatening to hijack an airliner.

Should be interesting.

Let's hope they do better then their '70s counterparts, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Mark Gastineau, did in their disastrous ring careers.

And hopefully a SWAT team is on standby when Speelman steps into the ring.