NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Three fights broke out during the course of the Tennessee Titans' fourth training camp practice, the night before a day off.
They were the first major scraps of camp. They tend to look worse than they are, as the offense runs to the aid of its guy and the defense does the same.
"In the games you don't want that to happen because people will get ejected, but for us to do that as a team and just help our brothers out, it's exciting," tight end Delanie Walker said. "When that stuff happens, we don't carry it on (beyond that). At the end of the day we're just having fun, we're competing, it's going to get physical.
Receiver Deon Long and cornerback Cody Riggs were at the center of the first fight, with a big role for safety Michael Griffin.
Tight end Chase Coffman and safety Daimion Stafford were featured in round two.
Tight end Craig Stevens and Stafford were the final bout, with some small action on the side from left tackle Taylor Lewan and defensive tackle Karl Klug.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said the team was geared up for the practice and rated the fights as "not unusual."
"I mean, it's training camp, right? And everyone is a little juiced up because of the crowd," he said. "It was a good atmosphere under the lights. They had a little bit more time off between these practices, so it’s not unusual. The unusual thing is that Karl Klug wasn't involved in a lot of them."
A few other observations out of practice:
Running back Bishop Sankey looked to have a little more life in his runs in this practice and may be showing some signs of progress. One rookie who will compete for snaps with Sankey, David Cobb, made a nice blitz pickup of corner Coty Sensabaugh, who would have been a problem for quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
Mettenberger threw a red-zone pick to undrafted rookie corner Curtis Riley. I saw it coming just as Riley did, because Mettenberger stared down Justin Hunter from the snap.
It seemed to be that Marcus Mariota threw a few short passes with more zip than usual. Even some of his misses are smart throws. Jason McCourty played great coverage on Kendall Wright in the back right corner on one red-zone throw. McCourty was out of bounds as he knocked it away, but there was no chance of a pick.
Mariota finished the night 11-of-15 -- another solid showing. Through four days he's 49-of-73 in 7-on-7 and full team periods. That's a .671 completion percentage.
In a drill where half an offensive line worked in combination against a couple rushers, end DaQuan Jones put guard Andy Levitre on his butt.
Cornerback Jemea Thomas, who's 5-foot-10, played in one game for the Titans last season. He lined up and covered rookie receiver Dorial Green-Beckham at one point. The seven-inch height differential was beyond striking.