Jets owner Woody Johnson does 'penalty' pushups at practice

On Monday, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan reinstituted the policy of the entire team doing 10 push-ups every time a penalty is committed in practice with the offending player standing and watching. And that included everyone who was there — no matter what your title.

The coach stuck to his guns and even members of the organization standing on the sidelines felt the wrath of Rex, including team owner Woody Johnson, team president Neil Glat and general manager John Idzik — who all got down and did 10.

Ryan brought back his 2010 push-up policy after the Jets were flagged 20 times in their 27-20 win over the Bills last Sunday. 

According to Ryan, the team did 30 push-ups — 10 for each for three infractions. The Jets lead the league with 34 penalties.

“We’re 32nd in the league, probably closer to 33rd if that was possible,” Ryan said. “It’s just not us. That is not who we are. We’re trying to fix it and we will fix it.”

Rex Ryan implements push-up punishment to decrease Jets penalties

After Sunday’s 27-20 win over Buffalo — in which the Jets committed a franchise-record 20 penalties — coach Rex Ryan is implementing a form of public shaming during practices to help reduce the team's momentum-killing infractions. Ryan won't be slapping a scarlet "P" on anyone's chest, but whenever a player commits a penalty, anybody and everybody observing practice must drop down for 10 push-ups — while the offending player watches.

"I do not want our team associated with penalties," the Jets coach said Monday, a day after his team pulled off the win despite having the flag thrown at them  20 times. "That's not who we are."

But it is and, at that penalty rate, the practice push-ups might give Ryan's players the best delts and traps in the league.

After the first three games, the Jets lead the league in penalties with 34, thanks to four calls apiece Sunday on left guard Vladimir Ducasse and cornerback Kyle Wilson. Ryan believes he has  "a good plan" to eliminate those penalties with the same push-up tactic he employed in 2010. When a penalty flag is thrown in practice, everyone hits the ground — except the guilty party. Even team owner Woody Johnson will drop and do ten.

"Hey, Woody knocks those things out pretty good," Ryan. "I’m the one that struggles. I’ve got the strings for arms. I want the player to stand up. He doesn’t do them. And I want him to notice who he’s affecting. He’s affecting all of us.  After you’ve done a few of those, you’re like, 'Really? You got a penalty again?' They’ll get on each other. There’s a little bit of accountability, especially if you look over and the owner is knocking them out. We don’t want to look like Jack LaLanne or somebody either."

Looking like the late health guru might not be so bad Rex.

Jets owner blames Sanchez for getting hurt because 'you got to protect yourself'

You would think that Woody Johnson might have learned by now how to pick and choose what to say and when to say it.  For Gang Green sakes, even Rex Ryan has turned down the rhetoric and now keeps his words to a minimum —maybe too much so.

Either way, on Wednesday, the Jets owner spoke with such cringe worthy carelessness that it revealed just how much the Jets have distanced themselves from Mark Sanchez.

According to the N.Y. Daily News, the Jets owner stood on the corner of 57th St. and Fifth Ave. and delivered a bizarre take on Ryan's ill-advised decision to put in Sanchez in the fourth quarter of the third preseason game against the Giants less than two weeks ago. After being thrown to the wolves, Sanchez suffered a shoulder injury which led to the Jets’ announcement that Geno Smith will be the Week 1 starter against the Buccaneers on Sunday.

"I don’t have any regrets," Johnson said. "He’s an experienced guy. I wish he hadn’t gotten hurt, but you got to protect yourself, too."

Say what?! To suggest that Sanchez, who rolled out of the pocket behind a third-string offensive line before getting leveled, could have protected himself better on the play was naive. It just goes to show Johnson’s complete lack of understanding of the game and, mostly, his desire to move on from the organization’s one-time starter and new whipping boy.

The organization’s recent handling of Sanchez over the past couple of weeks has been disturbing — to say the least

And where does the outspoken Ryan stand on Johnson's embarrassing remarks about his former No.1 draft pick and favorite tattoo design?

"It’s 100% injury rate in the league," Ryan said. "It’s unfortunate that it happened. But these things do happen. And we’ve moved on."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement from the suddenly neutered head coach.

"He’s a very, very good quarterback," Johnson said. "Franchise quarterback is something . . . I think you can debate the term."

Seven hours after Johnson’s inane remarks — and two hours after Ryan tiptoed around questions about them — the owner delivered a seemingly forced clarification after a team spokesman got wind of his boss' remarks.

"I may have said or I’ve been accused of saying that Sanchez’s injury was his fault," Johnson said. "That was not my intent at all. Of course, it wasn’t his fault. He was trying to make a play."

So glad he cleared things up.

Jets owner nearly paralyzed while wizzing off a bridge, book claims

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson was nearly paralyzed for life after drunkenly falling off a bridge while urinating during his wild college days, a new book claims.

“Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty,” comes out next month, and the author reveals that Woody Johnson’s “low-key and mild-mannered persona” was preceded by wilder times, reports Page Six of The New York Post.

The upcoming St. Martin’s title on the heirs to the vast Johnson & Johnson fortune reveals the stories behind the family’s unimaginable wealth, as well as scandals and misfortunes.

In his days as a student at the University of Arizona, Johnson — born Robert Wood Johnson IV — was known as “Band-Aid” because of his family’s business or “B.J.,” for Bob Johnson.

Once when Woody and his pals — known as “the money boys, the party guys” — were driving to a party in Phoenix in 1968, the night ended in drunken disaster.

“Oh, my God, who knows what we had, but yes, we were drinking alcohol,” recalls Johnson’s then-girlfriend Diane Vonderahe. “We pulled off one of the off-ramps because we all had to go to the bathroom, and it was pitch-black outside.”

Recalling what happened next she added, “Even all these years later, it kind of gives me the creeps . . . because it’s not a very happy story. My heart’s still beating. I was in total panic.”

The author, Jerry Oppenheimer, writes that the future Jets owner “had been drinking, was urinating . . . and took a step or two backward.”

“It was like an 18-foot drop, and B.J. just stepped off of it,” Vonderahe recalled.

Johnson “had broken his back and was virtually paralyzed,” the book reports. “He underwent surgery and was in intensive care for three or four months.”

A witness to the dramatic incident, Debbie Sceli Peacock, added, “They told him he would never walk again.” But Johnson was eventually released from the hospital and recuperated with “intense rehabilitation.”

While the Jets Big Kahuna may not be such a whizz with the team lately, back in the day old B.J. was ... well you get it.

A Jets rep had no comment.