Things got a little heated Friday between the Jets and Falcons during the teams’ joint practice at Gang Green’s headquarters.
“Our defense, their offense — a little skirmish,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “We settled it down and got a productive practice out of it.”
There were a few shoving matches between the Jets’ defensive line and Falcons’ offensive line. Then, a bigger fight erupted with Jets defensive lineman Bradlee Anae throwing some punches at a Falcons player. The two sides were separated and practice was stopped for a time while the coaches spoke to their teams.
“It was fine,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith told reporters. “You’re always going to have that. It’s like people [doing] a little peacocking as they’re running around each other. It was nothing.”
Saleh gave a good quote on Falcons second-year tight end Kyle Pitts: “He’s a ‘create-a-player’ on Madden. That’s exactly what you would look like. He’s going to be a dynamic football player for a long time.”
Saleh was sporting a T-shirt that said “60 percent” on it Friday. He explained the meaning behind the shirt.
“Everyone knows I kind of have an infatuation with the Navy SEALs. I have a lot of respect for them,” Saleh said. “They talk about fight or flight. Everybody’s flight or fight doesn’t kick in until you’ve achieved 40 percent of what you’re capable of. Everyone’s 40 percent is different. When you’re on the field and you feel like you’ve gone far enough, you’ve only accessed 40 percent of what you’re capable of and you’ve got 60 percent more. To get into it, you’ve got to go to a dark place and the darker you get the more you’ll access.”
Rookie CB Sauce Gardner got his first interception of training camp on Friday, and it came off his former college teammate Desmond Ridder, the rookie quarterback from Cincinnati.