The New York Jets battled the Carolina Panthers in a heated joint practice on Thursday in Charlotte, and the home team appeared to get the best of them.
With superstar DT Quinnen Williams and nickel cornerback Michael Carter II inactive today, it was going to be interesting to see how this Jets defense fared without two key pieces. In addition, today was QB Aaron Rodgers' first joint practice after missing last week's joint practice with the Washington Commanders due to the rain.
Here are a couple of key takeaways.
Multiple fights broke out
Jets stud cornerback Sauce Gardner mentioned last week how head coach Robert Saleh warned his players about getting into fights at training camp, especially throwing punches in a joint practice. Well, that warning by Saleh clearly wasn't taken to heart at least for a few Jets players after today's chippy nature the entire day.
One player that got caught in a scuffle was DE Michael Clemons. Clemons has been known over his time with the Jets to lose his temper, calling back to last year's Black Friday game against the Dolphins where he got ejected in the wake of an incidental slap to referee Carl Paganelli on an extra point. Today, Clemons punched Panthers RB Mike Boone in the helmet after Boone pushed Clemons following a run play. Afterward, multiple Jets and Panthers players converged on the two veterans causing a major rumpus.
Before last week's joint practice versus the Commanders, Saleh talked about his thoughts on skirmishes in practice.
"You’re going to get into these shoving matches, but like I’ve told our guys, if you throw a punch, you’re kicked out of a game, so don’t do it in practice."
Another incident arose when Panthers WR Terrace Marshall caught a TD over Jets CB DJ Reed and then proceeded to throw the ball at Reed while he was down on the ground. Reed then got up, chucked the ball back at Marshall, and Jets safety Chuck got in Marshall's face. Nothing more came of this, but it goes to show how much these players' patience can be tested in camp.
Carolina won the day
The defense and offense did not play well for the Jets today against a Panthers team that's coming off a dreadful 2-15 season.
Second-year Panthers QB Bryce Young had a fantastic day, dicing up the Jets' secondary with a couple of TDs. One TD came in the red zone period and it seemed like Gardner and safety Tony Adams had some miscommunication on the play. Dave Canales was brought in this offseason as the new head coach of the Panthers bringing in an offensive mindset and it looks like it's rubbed off on Young so far. Even so, it's not the most encouraging that the Jets struggled after posing a Top 5 defense in 2023.
The offense wasn't anything to write home about as well. Rodgers didn't have the best day completing 15 of 23 passes for one TD and two interceptions. In addition, the offensive line as a whole wasn't great, having allowed three or four would-be sacks.
Rookie Olu Fashanu continued to impress, serving as a bright spot for the offense, which got it going late as Rodgers found WR Garrett Wilson for a TD on one of the final possessions of practice.
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