If he hadn't established it before, he established it Monday: Jets QB Mark Sanchez is taking over the leadership of his team.
A massive brawl ensued during practice when, at the end of a play, RB Joe McKnight threw a ball in DB D'Anton Lynn's face. The fight quickly escalated with more than 20 players going at each other on the sideline, destroying sponsorship signs and crashing into the media, just feet from fans.
Sanchez was clearly irked. Following practice, Sanchez, who stayed far out of the fray, came out with as strong of a statement as he's ever made: "Tempers flare, [but] no excuse for it. One, it doesn't look good, and two, it sends the wrong message to our team. I don't like to see it. We gotta play together on Friday."
As for whether or not he will say something to the team, Sanchez said, "[Coach] Rex [Ryan] will address it. It's not helping us." Sanchez acknowledged he will speak to McKnight, noting that if that happens during a game it's a 15-yard penalty. "I don't know if that's a good habit to get into," Sanchez said.
McKnight, however, didn't yet see it that way, saying, "It's football; nothing is out of line."
Lynn is the son of Anthony Lynn, the Jets' running backs coach. The younger Lynn explained after practice, "I lost my temper."
Then he joked that because his father coaches McKnight, "He was probably rooting for him."
Lynn, who ended up at the bottom of a large pile, added: "We’re not trying to hurt each other. I doubt he was intentionally trying to hurt me. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. It just kind of escalated for a little bit, and it was more wrestling than anything."
McKnight said there were no lingering hard feelings.
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