River Falls, Wis. ? Herm Edwards pulled the plug on Saturday night’s joint Kansas City Chiefs-Minnesota Vikings practice 45 minutes early following an on-field scuffle between the squads.

“Everybody had short fuses tonight, and you can anticipate that kind of stuff,” Edwards said of the fight that broke out between members of the Minnesota defense and the Kansas City offense about 75 minutes into the evening. “One thing leads to another, and you know what’s going to happen.”

Edwards said players on both teams were worn out after several days of training camp followed by a pair of physical scrimmages on Friday and Saturday.

“It was a little bit sloppy tonight,” Edwards said at the conclusion of a cold, windy session at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls’ Ramer Field, where a crowd of more than 4,000 gathered to watch the action. “You could tell where it was headed.”

Before the evening ended, fans were treated to some strong running by a pair of rookie backs, Kansas City’s Kolby Smith and Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson.

Smith, drafted by the Chiefs out of Louisville in the fifth round, is taking advantage of the extra reps he’s been getting while starter Larry Johnson continues his holdout and veteran Priest Holmes’ comeback attempt has him limited to individual work only.

“It is what it is,” Smith said after making several nice cutback runs against the Vikings’ defense.

Edwards liked what he saw from Smith against Minnesota although the Vikings held out their two best interior linemen, Pro Bowlers Pat Williams and Kevin Williams.