08/20 — Scheduled for practice at 8:45 a.m. for the first time since a week ago today, the Jets came out of Weeb Ewbank Hall in a spirited mood.

When the music came on for team stretching, a pattern of unruly behavior began to unfold. Perhaps since that first track was “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, this should come as no surprise. QB Brett Ratliff played air guitar while Jonathan Vilma and Eric Barton punted the cones lining the grass field all over the place to get things going.

When “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor came on, Chad Pennington began twitching his head to the famous opening power chords of the song famous from “Rocky.” Pennington later attempted a cartwheel after going through a set of mini-hurdles but landed on his butt.

Some players carried that spirit into practice, while others, as head coach Eric Mangini mentioned in his midday news conference, did not. Randy Lange will report on that shortly.

During a run blocking exercise, LB Blake Costanzo, who had an active practice, pushed FB Stacy Tutt off the line of scrimmage and on his back 5 yards deep in the backfield while Barton and Vilma shouted, “Yeah, Blake!”

In the team’s first 11-on-11 action, Chad zipped a 20-yard pass over the middle to Justin McCareins, who elevated over David Barrett and Rashad Washington to make the catch.

Brad Smith without his red jersey may have been a little disoriented when he lined up at quarterback. Smith took a shotgun snap and tossed a shovel pass into a crowd of bodies at the line of scrimmage.

During the second set of 11-on-11s, Pennington’s 40-yard pass intended for McCareins was behind the wide receiver, enough for Barrett to be able to break up the pass. A few plays earlier, Clemens hit McCareins, though that ball was underthrown, and McCareins used his height to shield Hank Poteat on the play.

OL Robert Turner and LB Cody Spencer, who shoved each other lightly in the beginning of practice, got into it more heavily after some physical play and Turner’s helmet came off during the fray. Several Jets players jumped in to break up the tussle and after Spencer tossed Turner’s helmet back towards the offensive sideline, practice continued without incident.

Today’s game-ending situation was offense down, 17-13, with 1:44 remaining, the ball on their 32-yard line and no timeouts.

Pennington converted a sizable fourth down with a sideline pass to Laveranues Coles and moved the offense within striking distance. But the drive stalled at the 26 as Pennington threw an incompletion wide for Coles, was “sacked,” then had a long pass intended for Tutt batted down in the end zone by Washington as time expired.

Clemens could not advance the ball past midfield, as his second pass of the drive, intended for TE Sean Ryan, was intercepted by Drew Coleman, who crouched low to make the catch.