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Fight club RT Davis breaks thumb during scuffle at Friday's practicePosted: Saturday August 02, 2003 12:33 AMFLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona Cardinals right tackle Leonard Davis broke his thumb trading punches with a teammate Friday. Davis, who missed the final game last season after spraining his left knee, can take part in conditioning and drills but must avoid contact for 7-to-10 days -- making him doubtful for the team's exhibition opener Aug. 9 against Dallas. "My hands and my feet, that's my two most important assets," Davis said, his right hand in a cast. "I mean, I've got to have it." The fight incensed head coach Davis McGinnis even more because it involved offensive tackle Anthony Clement, who missed all of last season after tearing a triceps in an exhibition game. "I run a nasty team, but there's no place for fighting in football," McGinnis said. "You hurt yourself, you hurt your team, you get ejected out." McGinnis lectured Davis, Clement and defensive Kyle Vanden Bosch for several minutes after the morning practice. It wasn't learned that Davis was hurt until he showed up at the afternoon session. The altercation began midway through the first practice when Vanden Bosch and Clement grappled. Clement lost his footing, and Davis grabbed Vanden Bosch to keep him from falling across Clement's legs. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound Vanden Bosch threw a punch, and Davis, 6-6 and 384, hit him twice in the midsection, breaking his thumb with one of the punches. The two spoke later, and Davis said he made it clear he was concerned about the players' lack of protection on days when they practice wearing shorts and lightweight shells under their jerseys. "I was, like, 'Man, don't blow up on me,'" Davis said. "'We're in shells. In full pads, you can do whatever you want to do out there. But [in shells] we're not protected, and we've got to look out for each other.'" Vanden Bosch declined to discuss the incident. Left tackle L.J. Shelton was the only offensive lineman to start every game for the Cardinals last year. Davis' string of 33 consecutive starts ended when he sprained his left knee and foot in the next-to-last game, and McGinnis said surgery for that, and not the thumb, was reason enough to hold the lineman out of Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage. Eleven other players will miss the scrimmage as well. Tight end Freddie Jones joined the list after straining his groin Thursday. "It's one of things where, if you keep going, it gets worse," Jones said. "I'm going to see how it works day to day." Four of the injured -- cornerbacks Duane Starks and David Barrett and guard Pete Kendall and Cameron Spikes -- had hamstring pulls. The others were: tight end Steve Bush (calf); wide receiver Larry Foster (toe); wide receiver Nathan Poole (back); cornerback Coby Rhinehart (abdominals), and guard Raleigh Roundtree (spleen). Roundtree was scheduled for surgery on his enlarged spleen Thursday, but the operation was postponed a week because he had a fever. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin is on leave to attend his grandmother's funeral. |
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