Geno Smith’s hopes for a breakout season with the New York Jets took a major blow — to the jaw.
The quarterback will be sidelined at least six to 10 weeks with a broken jaw after being punched by teammate Ikemefuna Enemkpali in the locker room on Tuesday morning.
Smith, entering his third season, will require surgery to repair the injuries.
He had not yet undergone the procedure as of late on Tuesday afternoon.
“It had nothing to do with football,” coach Todd Bowles said. “It was something very childish, and he got cold-cocked, sucker-punched — whatever you want to call it — in the jaw.”
Bowles made the stunning announcement in an impromptu news conference before training camp practice was scheduled to start. Enemkpali, an outside linebacker in his second season, was immediately released by the Jets.
“It was something very childish, that sixth-graders could have talked about,” Bowles said. “It had no reason for happening.”
Neither Bowles nor a small handful of players made available to the media would go into detail about the incident, or if they knew what sparked it.
“This isn’t a UFC match,” guard Willie Colon said. “We’re football players, not fighters.”
“I hold both of them responsible... But at the same time, you’ve got to move forward,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said.
Smith, who was having a good training camp, is to be sidelined for the rest of the summer and likely for the first few games of the season.
The regular-season opener at home against Cleveland on Sept. 13 is only five weeks away.
“Depending on how surgery goes, we’ll see where we go from there,” Bowles said.
Smith took to Instagram and posted a picture of himself sitting in a car — mouth closed and looking stern — and a simple message: “ILL BE BACK.”
In a statement issued to media by his agent, Enemkpali apologized to the team and fans.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but