Jets-Giants joint practice erupts as tempers flare and fights erupt

When the New York Jets and New York Giants share a practice field, tempers have a history of boiling over. Joint practices between these teams have often been far from cordial, at least when looking at the history shared between the two franchises.

The close proximity, combined with the inherent city rivalry, tends to turn otherwise controlled drills into skirmishes and sometimes all-out brawls. It's why the two teams opted not to have joint practices with each other for close to two decades.

On Wednesday, we got a slight glimpse of the old days of Jets-Giants joint practices. Tensions flared, and the two teams got into a few confrontations, with the most notable coming after a Tyrone Tracy run led to some pushing and shoving from both sides.

Will McDonald and Qwan'tez Stiggers were at the center of the fight for the Jets, while Giants offensive linemen Jon Runyan and former Jet Greg Van Roten represented the other side. The fan-captured video of the encounter can be seen below.

Jets-Giants joint practice got heated on Wednesday

Jets-Giants joint practices were an annual occasion for years until a specific incident in 2005 put an end to the tradition for 17 years.

Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey got into it with Jets safety Oliver Celestin, and within moments, the skirmish spiraled into a full-scale brawl that lasted nearly 20 minutes.

Multiple fights broke out across the field, with players throwing punches and even coaches shouting at each other. The chaos was so bad that the teams scrapped joint practices altogether for nearly two full decades.

That temporary ban ended in 2022 when the Jets and Giants practiced together for the first time since that brawl. In the years since, there have been minor flare-ups and some occasional pushing and shoving, but nothing on the level of what happened 20 years ago now.

Wednesday's practice — the second of two joint practices between these teams this summer — was certainly chippier than the day before. Undrafted rookie defensive tackle Payton Page later got into it with Giants offensive lineman Jake Kubas and had to be separated.

Both sides will try to keep emotions in check ahead of Saturday’s preseason clash, but if Wednesday’s fireworks are any indication, tensions are bound to spill over again.

And given the history between these two, it wouldn’t take much for a little shoving to turn into another headline-grabbing melee.

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