Aqib Talib and Michael Crabtree set off a huge Broncos-Raiders brawl
The bad blood between Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib and Oakland Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree runs deep. We remember Talib acting like Deebo from “Friday” and snatching Crabtree’s chain during a game last season.
That was pretty funny. Sunday’s brawl wasn’t so humorous, and led to both players getting ejected. And, yes, Crabtree’s chain got snatched again.
Crabtree and Talib were in the middle of the type of huge brawl you won’t see too often in the NFL. Crabtree blocked Talib out of bounds and kept on blocking him well into the sideline. It was wholly unnecessary to the play. Crabtree took Talib down, and a couple players came off the Broncos bench to help out Talib. That led to players from both sides joining the scrum.
“They have a little bit of a history with the chain snatching, from years back and I think there was an additional chain snatched, from what I understand,” Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio told reporters postgame.
Talib and Crabtree eventually got away from the mix, and then started throwing punches at each other in the middle of the field. Crabtree didn’t have his helmet on, but he was still willing to fight Talib. That got them both kicked out. It was a little more than just three minutes into the game, and two of the best players in the game were ejected. Gabe Jackson, a very good guard for the Raiders, was also ejected for making contact with an official and knocking him to the ground.
Then, in an odd scene, Talib had to leave the field through the Raiders sideline after his ejection. The tunnel for both locker rooms at the Raiders’ stadium is located behind the Raiders bench. To make sure nothing else happened, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch played peacekeeper and escorted Talib to the tunnel.
Broncos defensive back Chris Harris Jr. said Crabtree was spoiling for a fight early, so much that accused Crabtree of punching him in the stomach one play before all hell broke loose.
“[Crabtree] didn’t come to play football – we came to play football,” Harris told ESPN.com. “He came to fight – we came to play football.”
The Raiders went on to win 21-14 with Crabtree watching at least some of the game from the stands.
There will be fines, maybe suspensions and a lost game for three key players. You won’t see football fights that crazy very often.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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