FIGHT CLUB: For the second straight day, Jets training camp was riddled with scuffles, which drew the ire of coach Rex Ryan (inset). (
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CORTLAND — Ground and Pound took on new meaning yesterday at Jets training camp, as coach Rex Ryan grounded his team after watching them pound on each other.
A furious Ryan lit into his team with expletive-filled warnings to knock off the fighting twice during practice. After the first warning was not heeded, he halted practice and made the team run 107-yard sprints as punishment.
Ryan grew tired of watching his team fight for a second straight day. The team had a brawl Monday that nearly spilled into the area where fans were.
“My big thing is protecting your teammate,” Ryan said. “Don’t do anything selfish. I think sometimes you’re trying to be physical, but being physical is one thing. Going past that is something else, and that’s what I didn’t like. I had to remind guys that the enemy is not in green and white.”
Perhaps in a move to provide some team bonding time, Ryan surprised the team by canceling its walkthrough last night and taking it to the movies instead. Players and staff got to choose individually which movie they wanted to see at the local theater.
Ryan downplayed Monday’s melee that featured around 20 players piling on a fight between running back Joe McKnight and safety D’Anton Lynn. But he could not ignore the simmering problems on the field yesterday.
The first sign of trouble was a fight between two rookies. During a drill that was supposed to be no-contact, running back Terrance Ganaway ran into linebacker Demario Davis, who wrapped him up and caused Ganaway’s helmet to come off. The two began yelling at each other and teammates began to run toward them. Ryan stopped practice and gathered the team around him.
He told the team he needs football players, not boxers, and that if another fight occurred it would have to run, a common punishment in high school football but a rarity in the NFL.
A few minutes later, things began to get heated between cornerback Antonio Cromartie and rookie wide receiver Stephen Hill. Cromartie was bothered by something Hill was doing and told Hill he would punch him in the face if he continued to do it. On the next play, Cromartie wrapped Hill up, drawing the ire of wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal, who screamed at the official to throw a penalty flag.
Cromartie continued to yell at the offense, and on the next play he took a cheap shot at tight end Dustin Keller, knocking Keller to the ground. Keller jumped up, and he and Cromartie went nose-to-nose. Several Jets then rushed over, including quarterback Mark Sanchez, who tried to end the fight.
Ryan immediately ordered his team to the sideline and it ran “gassers,” sprinting the width of the field and about 10 times, with quarterback Tim Tebow out in front. Ryan said he has never done that as a head coach.
“I just wanted them to know how serious I was about it,” he said. “I also wanted to run them until I was tired.”
Cromartie and Keller declined to speak to the media.
Once the sprints were done, Ryan called the team together and tore into it again. Sanchez then brought the team together and delivered his own message briefly before practice resumed.
Wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who did not participate in practice, said the Jets desperately need to face an opponent other than each other. Their first preseason game is Friday in Cincinnati.
“We’re ready to hit somebody else,” he said. “We’ve been doing it long enough with ourselves, and Cincinnati can’t come fast enough for these guys right now.”
Even after Ryan made the team run, there was one more near-skirmish. Guard Brandon Moore shouted at defensive tackle Marcus Dixon after offensive tackle Dennis Landolt injured his knee going against Dixon in a one-on-one drill.
Safety Eric Smith said he thinks the team got Ryan’s message.
“I think we don’t have one tomorrow,” Smith said. “He knows we’re a physical team, but we need to take care of each other. We’re not being good teammates right now. … We’re kind of taking plays farther than we should.”
Smith said he’s not sure why the fights in Jets camp are receiving so much attention when training camp fights are common.
“I guess you guys are tired of talking about Tebow,” Smith told the media, “so now you can talk about fights.”
brian.costello@nypost.com