Fights cut Jets practice short
The Florham Park Fight Club was back in session on Sunday, but no one left with a broken jaw this time.
Two fights broke out at Jets practice, prompting coach Todd Bowles to stop practice and make the entire team run sprints. Bowles has repeatedly said he does not want fights in practice. While he wants the Jets to be physical in practice, he draws the line when It comes to fighting.
“It’s a fine line,” Bowles said. “You want to be very physical. Nobody wants to get their butts kicked and you see the same guy every day and you’re fighting him every day physically. When they get into a fist fight, that’s what we don’t want because you can break your hand on a helmet, you can hurt somebody. We’re not trying to hurt each other. At the end of the day, we all need each other.”
The fights came just five days after a lockerroom punch left quarterback Geno Smith with a broken jaw that required surgery and will sideline him 610 weeks. IK Enemkpali, who threw the punch, was cut by the team immediately and claimed off waivers by the Bills.
On Sunday, with the temperature high and training camp entering its third week, tempers flared. The first skirmish was between right tackle Breno Giacomini and linebacker Quinton Coples. It was broken up quickly. A short time later, center Dalton Freeman and linebacker Jason Babin got into it and ended up on the ground with teammates joining in.
At this point, Bowles stopped practice and lined the players up on the sideline to run five “gassers,” which consisted of running from sideline to sideline and back.
“It’s training camp. That comes with it,” Giacomini said. “It’s not a bad thing. We’re out here fighting every single day. We’re going against our own players. Part of the team we want to be, we want to play fast, play physical, but the last part of that is play smart. We’re defining that line. I’ve had some issues with that in my past. I understand it. It’s not a bad thing. We don’t want to hurt anyone on our team.”
The practice was a very physical one, with the defense taking ball carriers down a few times and lots of talking going on. Nose tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison barely took a breath.
“Snacks is practicing to be an auctioneer,” Bowles joked.
Bowles said he does not mind trash talking, but he won’t tolerate fighting.
“The mess talking and the bravado and the swagger and everything is fine, but you have to understand situational football at the same time,” Bowles said. “You can’t fight and be braggadocios and be loud if you don’t understand what’s going on in the game because that makes for a dumb player. We’re not trying to have dumb players.”
Several players said it’s just that point in training camp where these things happen.
“Guys are out there barking,” wide receiver Jeremy Kerley said. “You want competitive guys. You want guys that don’t back down from nothing. Fights are going to happen. That’s just a part of it.”
Bowles said he has not cracked down on fighting any more since the SmithEnemkpali incident, saying his rules have always been the same. The Jets training camp had no fights until that one last week. Unfortunately for the Jets, that fight made national headlines.
Bowles has been described as holding players more accountable than former coach Rex Ryan, who did not seem to mind fighting as much. He stopped one training camp practice in 2012 and made the team run after a rash of fighting in that camp. But he also was caught on tape during “Hard Knocks” in 2010 telling a player to start a fight.
But Giacomini said coaches always punish players for fighting.
“There’s always a consequence for fighting,” he said. “Even though you might not see or hear that, you saw the gassers, but it’s definitely come up before.”
Bowles said there probably will be more fights before camp is over, and he’s ready to make them run if there are.