Seattle Seahawks DE Frank Clark apologizes for punching teammate

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark said he apologized to teammate Germain Ifedi and to the team for punching Ifedi during a recent practice, which led to Clark getting thrown out of that practice.

"It was a heat of the moment thing," Clark said, according to ESPN.com. "I let my emotions overcome the situation. For a brief moment, I thought that myself, that I was bigger than the team in all regards. I thought about myself first before I thought about my defense as a whole and my defensive line, to be more specific. Because it was a one-on-one drill. And that was basically it. It was an overheated thing. We always get heated up. It's O-Line, D-Line. It's supposed to happen. But it just got taken too far.

"I just wanted to let them know that I was actually sorry. And I wanted to let Germain know that I was sorry, besides the team. ... I just wanted to let him know that it was my fault and that it would never get to that point again."

The incident occurred during an Aug. 3 practice that had already been acrimonious. Ifedi, an offensive guard, was jawing with defensive players when Clark punched Ifedi, who was not wearing a helmet at the time.

Ifedi was knocked to the ground, and coach Pete Carroll kicked Clark out of practice.

Ifedi missed three days as a result of the injury. Clark was held out of practice the next day as discipline for his actions, and Clark missed more time because of a knee injury.

Clark has since had a meeting with Carroll and also met with general manager John Schneider.