Enemkpali was then immediately cut by the team with new Jets head coach Todd Bowles telling the linebacker that he shouldn’t be walking up to another and just started punching in the face. As long as the hits are clean and everything, we’re fine. You’ve got to understand situational football at the same time. There’s no cheap shots. If it’s good, clean play, I don’t have a problem.
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But Fitzpatrick was thrown into the starting role when Smith suffered a broken jaw in the locker room this week, the victim of a sucker punch from teammate IK Enemkpali, who landed in Buffalo after he was released by the Jets.
The Jets had some skirmishes before Babin vs. Freeman, including a dust-up earlier Sunday between right tackle Breno Giacomini and outside linebacker Quinton Coples.
But moments later, every player paid the price. “I’m pretty sure the whole locker room knew that was going to happen”, Sheldon Richardson said. “I didn’t think about everything”. That is when Enemkpali punched Smith, who will miss up to 10 weeks. The coach, however, said that didn’t lower his tolerance for fighting among the players.
Asked specifically about Flynn, the coach said: “We haven’t ruled in or out anything”.
The real fireworks came during practice when two skirmishes broke out.
“It’s training camp”, he said. Bowles said he limited Fitzpatrick because he hadn’t had much time to work with the starters. “It’s football”.
“As of now, we haven’t heard anything”, Treiber said. We all need each other. “My understanding is none of them are serious – unless you’re the person obviously, but none of them seem to be too bad”.
There have been no company lines like “Geno is our leader” or “We believe in Geno” or “He’s a natural leader” that would make anyone think that there really was any support for Geno in the first place.
“I thought it was childish, either way, and it was stupid”, Bowles said.
“There’s been a couple”, he said, laughing. “But you’ve got to establish yourself with those players before you get that respect”. “I should’ve walked away from the situation.It was never my intention to hurt anyone…I’m very grateful and happy to be a Bill.I look forward to being a good teammate, an accountable player”.
NOTES: S Calvin Pryor was not at practice and will be out for “quite a few days” while tending to personal matters.
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IK Enemkpali recently spoke with the Post as well, discussing how his former Jets teammates have been calling him, curious to know how he’s been holding up. The coach adds that doctors have said Smith shouldn’t be participating in physical activities. The New York Post caught Smith playing catch with his friend in his Whippany, N.J. apartment complex.
