There’s truly a method to Jordan Jenkins’ madness.
Just last week, the Jets starting outside linebacker appeared to be a man possessed, throwing punches at OL Alex Lewis while also going after OL Greg Van Roten. Jenkins had to be separated from Van Roten, while QB Sam Darnold, S Marcus Maye and RB Le’Veon Bell played peacemaker.
Now, however, Jenkins is saying he accomplished something during that heated practice.
“I knew I could get Alex (Lewis) riled up,” Jenkins told reporters following Sunday’s practice.
Jenkins certainly did get Lewis irritated after the Jets veteran traded verbal remarks with LB Neville Hewitt. That’s when Jenkins took a couple of shots to get the energy up at practice, he said.
Jenkins isn’t the first veteran to start fights in training camp and he certainly won’t be the last. If there is a perceived lack of energy among players, especially with a shortened training camp, then sometimes there may be an incident that stirs the pot.
“You have to get the tempers flaring to see how people respond,” Jenkin said.
With fights commonplace during training camp, Adam Gase was quick to brush off anything out of the ordinary happening, despite punches being thrown and tensions being high.
“I mean, spirited practice to say the least,” Gase said last week. “It seems like tempers were flaring a little bit, but that’s what’s going to happen sometimes when we’re doing a lot of running the football and then the big guys start getting a little irritated with each other. It’s good to see both sides of the ball aren’t backing down.
“As long as it doesn’t happen every day, every period, occasionally things go down and we got to be smart with what’s going on, but at the same time, it’s just good to see our guys with the fire they have.”
It’s clear that both Jenkins and his head coach agree that sometimes tempers are needed.
