Patriots Must Take Action After Horrifying Fan Behavior in Week 2

Tyreek Hill pissed off many Patriots fans with his strong comments after the Dolphins’ Sunday Night Football win, calling Pats fans “nasty” and “some of the worst fans in the NFL.”

This isn’t the first time Boston sports fans have riled up an opposing athlete, and surely it won’t be the last. But based on the videos showing horrifying fan behavior from Sunday night’s game, Hill was absolutely right.

In one case, two fans were recorded fighting in the stands during New England’s Week 2 loss.

Patriots Fan Fight Video

It’s unclear what these fans were fighting about, but it seems like things escalated pretty quickly with screaming followed by flying fists.

Fights aren’t uncommon at sports games, unfortunately, as the combination of passion and heavy drinking can lead to violent outbursts. This fight was unusual for a couple of reasons, however.

For starters, most fan fights involve men rather than women. And they’re usually between fans of opposing teams rather than the same team, who are supposed to be on the same side.

Boston has a reputation for being a tough city with short-tempered people who are prone to violence, and this video only reinforces that image.

Patriots Fan Tragedy

At least this fight ended relatively quickly and without serious injury. Another fight at the game had a far more tragic outcome as a Dolphins fan beat a Patriots fan to death in front of his son.

The worst part is that in both cases, no one near the fight intervened. In the case where the fan died, many took out their phones to record the brawl rather than act to stop it.

Obviously this type of violent, malicious behavior is completely unacceptable for a sporting event. Fans should be able to enjoy the game without fear of being harmed or killed by fellow fans. Football is literally just a game, and a game is never worth someone’s life.

The Patriots are on the road for the next two weeks, but the team clearly needs to implement some new policies before the next home game. Fans caught fighting deserve a lifetime ban and should face criminal charges, and perhaps alcohol sales should be scaled back as well (especially for night games after fans have been drinking all day).

While fan fights are going to happen, the Patriots and the NFL need to get much stricter and more serious about preventing them before someone else loses their life.