What Bill Belichick Told Officials About Patriots Joint-Practice Fights

Bill Belichick saw plenty of action as his teams grinded to improve during the 24 seasons he spent at the helm of the New England Patriots.

The summer often brings peaks of competitiveness as players fight, at times literally, for roster spots with the chance to prove themselves and make an NFL team.

As the Patriots prepare to host joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles, Belichick emphasized the liking he had for those scenarios for his players to get looks against outside competition.

"Good players wanna compete and good players wanna get better," Belichick shared on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Monday. "They want to do things that will make them play better in the regular-season games. They don't want to get clipped from some free agent that's going to be driving a truck next week. They want to go against other players that respect the competitiveness of the joint practices."

Belichick valued scheming and drawing up game plans against opponents within joint practices. From his Patriots days to his time with the New York Giants, he learned strengths of his teams from opposing coaches and borrowed drills he witnessed.

Belichick also emphasized the value of having NFL referees at joint practices to establish and enforce game-like settings. He felt that prepared the Patriots for a regular-season atmosphere by amplifying their authority.

"I always told the officials that if there was a fight or a taunt, 'Do what you would do in a game,'" Belichick explained. "Treat a taunt like a fight. If our guy catches a ball and goes over and spikes a ball in front of their bench, just throw him out of there because it's just gonna cause a deterioration of practice. It's not what we're here for. We're gonna make some plays. They're gonna make some plays. It's not about making fun of each other and taunting."

As for the current Patriots, they'll practice with Philadelphia before a Thursday night preseason game at Gillette Stadium.