Pat Shurmur not happy about ugly brawl on last day of Giants’ minicamp
An ugly scuffle between Damon Harrison and Will Hernandez disrupted the final practice of New York Giants’ minicamp on Thursday. And making matters worse is there appears to be some slight collateral damage involving high-priced free agent acquisition Nate Solder.
Reports from practice indicate tempers flared, to put it mildly, after Hernandez’s helmet came off during the dust-up. Harrison, who already has been making headlines this week for other reasons, then swung the helmet at Hernadez’s head before Hernandez stood up and started throwing haymakers at Harrison.
Will Hernandez’s helmet just came off as he was tangled with Damon Harrison, and Harrison had Hernandez’s helmet in his hand and swung it at Hernandez’s unprotected head and JUST missed. Disgusting. Hernandez then threw a couple major punches before team broke it up #Giants pic.twitter.com/k8As1Y1KGc
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) June 14, 2018
Solder, who signed a four-year, $62 million contract in March, had his legged rolled up on during the scuffle. He was asked after practice if his leg was okay after the incident.
“Yeah, I think so,” Solder said, via NJ.com. “I hope so. It hurts a little bit, but I’m not a doctor.”
Solder downplayed the brawl as well, saying, “Those things are battles, they happen, emotions rise, you work through it, and you move on.”
Nate Solder taking about the altercation between Snacks and Will Hernandez today @EliteSportsNY #Giantspride #NYG pic.twitter.com/2C1G0W6CAe
— Jason Leach (@JasonKLeach) June 14, 2018
Giants first-year head coach Pat Shurmur not surprisingly was not pleased with the way in which things got way out of hand. The coach immediately held court and appeared to single out Harrison over the scrum.
Pat Shurmur in full view of media talking to Damon Harrison. Eventually puts hand on Harrison’s shoulder as they complete the convo. Now position coach talking to Harrison #Giants pic.twitter.com/ipqjHnidBw
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) June 14, 2018
Shurmur later addressed the ugly incident with reporters.
Pat Shurmur reacts to the Damon Harrison-Will Hernandez incident, plus an update on LT Nate Solder, whom Shurmur says is “fine”. pic.twitter.com/GAUa9B0Zt0
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) June 14, 2018
Practice scuffles of course are commonplace as teammates begin getting sick of one another after rep after rep. That said, a player violently swinging a helmet at the head of a teammate is unacceptable. Further, the Giants should feel fortunate Solder did not suffer a serious injury during an incident in which he was an innocent bystander, not one of the combatants.
