Sparks are beginning to fly at New York Jets training camp, as rookie safety D’Anton Lynn and running back Joe McKnight were involved in a post-play scuffle in Cortland, NY.  No one was hurt in the fight.

“We weren’t trying to hurt each other,” said Lynn, undrafted out of Penn State said. “It just kind of escalated for a little bit. It was more wrestling than anything.”

McKnight had this to say, “It was something that just happened at the spur of the moment.” The running back continued by saying, “I’m over it now. We’re teammates. I love him, just like I love his dad, so we’re moving on.”

1495 Sports has these quotes from Jets Training Camp as head coach Rex Ryan, and quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow shared their thoughts on the scuffle and more:

Ryan opened up by saying:

“Alright first off, as far as it being a melee I don’t see that.  Now it is a first, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sign get knocked over in a fight because it happened on the sideline, but it wasn’t a melee.  Guys weren’t throwing helmets.  Some times when you’re competing and all that stuff, things like that happen.  I think we’ve had enough fights for camp so I don’t expect too many more after this one. “

On if this is something he will speak to the team about:

“Nope, to me it’s just that you’re about ready to hit somebody else in a different color jersey.  You know you’re competing with each other.  It becomes a little more of a competition when we put the black jerseys out there.  It’s just getting to be that time but, you just have to take care of one another and that’s the biggest thing.  Fights happen occasionally, but I think we’ve had enough of them like I said.  I really don’t think I’m going to have to speak directly about it but if I do that’s fine. “

 Quarterback Mark Sanchez shared these thoughts:

“At this point in camp, especially after the scrimmage, tempers flare.  That’s stuff happens, there’s no excuse for it.  There’s no throwing the ball at a teammate, there’s no shoving the guy out of bounds into the signs.  One, it doesn’t look good and, two; it sounds the wrong message to our team.  We want to take care of our guys.   I get it, guys are competitive, guys are fiery, that’s nice, but you want to take it to the brink there and compete until the last possible moment and then always remember to protect the team, protect your teammates.  So I don’t like to see it, I know guys get testy and that’s the way it goes but we have to control that and make sure we’re not hurting anybody.”

Ryan agreed by saying:

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.  That’s exactly what I told the team afterwards.  It wasn’t the fight, it was about our team being close, and even though you’re competing, you always protect your teammate.  I think that’s something that has to be done.  I think sometimes in a competition, guys try to get that last shove on offense or defense and sometimes it can escalate.”

When Sanchez was asked if he’d say anything to the guys about the fight the quarterback had this to say:

“Rex (Ryan) will address it.   That’s his call on that kind of stuff, but it’s not helping us, that’s for sure.  I don’t see how that makes us any better.  Take it to the brink, give your last shove, and act tough to each other and then walk away. “

On if he thinks, as a leader, he should say something…

“Well, I mean we saw what happened there with Joe (McKnight) at the end (of the team period) or whoever it was that went down.  That stuff doesn’t help. If you get to physical out there, you can hurt a guy on your team. We’re playing together.  Yes, we’re competing against each other, but we have to play together on Friday, so that doesn’t help. “

Sanchez shared his thoughts on other topics including how the offense looked:

“It’s going well; I think we’re moving along very well. I thought the scrimmage was great. I thought today was great. Just a couple things when you look on film, there’s one communication error here, or a yard too deep or a yard too short.”

On Stephen Hill…

“He’s doing a good job stretching the field. He’s fast, long and can really stride. He obviously helps your passing game down the field. It’s nice to see that happen to Stephen, but we have to work on a lot of our intermediate and underneath stuff as well. He has to be sharp with that. He can’t just be a deep threat.”

On going against Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie in practice …

“It’s the best. It prepares me very well for the season and, like you said, those will be two of the best that we’ll see all year. It’s such a great preparation.”

Tim Tebow shared these thoughts on the fight:

“I didn’t see how it started, but I ran over and just started pulling people off, and it was more of something that guys were laughing at afterwards than anything.”

On playing other teams:

“I think we’re definitely excited and looking forward to playing other people. Different color jerseys would be nice. You can see it got a little chippy out there today, so it would be fun to play another team.”

On picking up the offense:

“I think I’m definitely getting more used to it. Obviously, we’re putting in more and more install and I think some things we’re doing really well, some things we have to get better at, and I think that’s every day. You can see some parts we’re growing and some parts we have to continue to develop at.”

On if he was under a lot of pressure from the pass rush today:

“Yes, sometimes that’s so hard.  When you’re doing a pressure period like that and they’re steming from diamond, so sometimes those plays are going to bust and sometimes you’re going to have a few sacks in there but we’ll see if it was really going.”

On if the focus was pressure looks from the defense:

“Yes, one part of it was getting diamond looks, which is sort of like a pressure period.  It’s a certain type of defense that our defense plays a lot and it’s the five-man front that they bring pressure out of most of the time.  So it was handling (that), checking out of that and just trying to manage as best we can.”

On focusing on different roles:

“No, not really. I think you just take it one step at a time and when you’re in a period where you’re playing quarterback, you’re working on those things and when I’m out doing something different I have to focus on what I have to do to be the best at that role, whatever that role is. I think it’s just being single-minded and focused and really being able to be locked into what you’re doing.”

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