EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Giants went from running plays to squaring off, ready to rumble in the middle of the field.
Punches were thrown and helmets — and players — tossed aside.
And they haven't even made it to minicamp yet.
“The heat got to us,” edge rusher Brian Burns said Thursday after the Giants' sixth practice of organized team activities.
On a day when temperatures reached around 90 degrees with high humidity, tempers flared toward the end of a voluntary practice session.
First, Burns and left tackle James Hudson started pushing and shoving each other before the two took off their helmets and squared up as if they were going to fight.
“I would say it was just a conversation that we had,” Burns said with a grin. “Same old (stuff).”
Players intervened and Burns and Hudson were sent to their sidelines by coaches.
But on the next play, edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux and offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor got into it and Thibodeaux took a swing at his teammate. That led to more pushing and Hudson charged off the sideline and tackled Thibodeaux — and Burns joined in as he and a few players ended up on the ground.
“I mean, it's just, it's a violent sport we play,” Burns said. “You know, guys trying to get better. Tensions raised a little high. The heat is getting a little hotter, so guys get a little more agitated. But it ain't that deep. We squashed it.”
But it also ended practice.
After the skirmishes, coach Brian Daboll huddled the team and the on-field activities were done for the day.
“I feel like it's healthy, at times,” Burns said. “I feel like it's healthy to a certain extent, though. You still want to get your work done at the end of the day, but that competition and that dog, that edge, that we need to have is needed. Got to keep it up.”
And it wasn't necessarily the first time tempers have flared. Sort of.
“Yeah, this happens all the time,” Burns said, making light of the situation. “We fight over food, we fight over ping-pong, pool, whatever it is. It happens all the time. This ain't nothing but a little brotherhood.”
Burns insisted teams need to have an edge, but it can't get in the way of the work that has to be done.
“The only thing I'm mad about is we had to go ahead and call it up,” he said. “But, I mean, we got most of our work done today. But I just want to stay away from that and I'm going to let it be known to the team, like, that's not what we're doing. We've got to keep our minds set on the main thing, which is football. All that horseplay and all that stuff is cool or whatever, a nice edge and everything like that, but we do have to get to the details and get our work done.”
Quarterback Russell Wilson, who's in his 14th NFL season and first with the Giants, downplayed the heated ending.
“I think we're all competing and trying to be the best version of us and everything else,” Wilson said. “A lot of times when you have a long practice like the way we did, the way we're working, things happen. Every great team I've been on, there's been a couple of those. ... Nothing to worry about.”
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New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns talks to reporters after NFL football practice in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns runs a drill during NFL football practice in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns talks to reporters after NFL football practice in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — While President Donald Trump says he will take action on Greenland whether its people “ like it or not, " his newly handpicked U.S. special envoy is setting off on his own approach.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, appointed in December, has said he is not interested in meeting diplomats. The Republican has not visited the Arctic island but plans to attend a dogsled race there in March. He has suggested Greenlanders would feel right at home in Louisiana, saying he heard they like to hunt, fish and “have a good time.”
As Trump threatens seizing control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, Landry has brought his thick Cajun accent and reputation for confrontational politics to the American effort to acquire the world’s largest island, elevating his national profile on a mission that has showcased his ties to the president and rattled partners in the military alliance.
Landry's debut has not escaped Denmark's attention. The Danish ambassador to the United States pushed back on Sunday when Landry posted on X that the U.S. had protected Greenland during World War II “when Denmark couldn’t.”
Landry's "brand fits the political moment and fits neatly with this president’s goal,” said Mary-Patricia Wray, a Louisiana political consultant who has worked with Landry.
The assignment is a test for the first-term governor who climbed to power in Louisiana as a brash conservative but has no significant foreign diplomacy experience beyond economic development trips. Supporters say Landry’s charisma and negotiating chops are a boost to Trump’s aims. But the scope of Landry's role as special envoy and extent of his early outreach are unclear as Trump revives his argument that to ensure its own security, the United States needs to control Greenland.
Landry declined an interview request and his office did not respond to questions about his actions so far as envoy. The White House said Landry’s experience as a governor makes him a strong asset.
“He understands that Greenland is essential to our national security, vital to deterring our adversaries, and that Greenlanders would be better served by U.S. protection in the region,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
Others are less impressed.
“You don’t negotiate the future of a country on social media,” said Peter Bisgaard, a former Danish consular officer in New Orleans. “That’s asinine.”
Greenland’s party leaders have firmly rejected U.S. overtures and Danish officials warn that an American takeover of Greenland would end the NATO alliance that has served as the backbone of European security since World War II.
The White House has not ruled out military action in pursuit of Greenland.
Landry, in an interview on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio this month, said he wants to provide Greenland's roughly 56,000 residents opportunities to “improve the quality of life" in exchange for expanded U.S. military presence and rare-earth mineral mining access. Drawing on Louisiana's famed cuisine, Landry described his approach to forging ties as “culinary diplomacy."
During eight years as Louisiana’s attorney general, Landry was known for airing out disagreements on social media and for a combative style, defending the state's abortion ban and rollbacks of LGBTQ rights. Since voters elected him governor in 2023, Landry has pushed Louisiana further right and animated critics who accuse him of limiting transparency and ramming through legislation with little public feedback.
Landry’s mentor Fred Mills, a retired Louisiana lawmaker, said they briefly discussed the governor's envoy role.
“If you bring them some crawfish and you start talking Cajun to them, I don’t think they’ll give you the country, but they’re going to like you,” Mills recalled telling Landry. “I can see it elevating his worth on the national level, but I’m struggling to know what’s going to be success.”
Shortly after Trump announced his first presidential campaign in 2015, Landry interviewed him while guest-hosting a local radio show. Their ties have only grown closer.
Trump endorsed Landry's run for governor and Landry has said he was on the president's short list for attorney general. Landry said he did not want the job but has demonstrated an eagerness to implement Trump's agenda on a Louisiana-sized scale.
He invited the National Guard to Louisiana to address crime, welcomed a Border Patrol deployment and expanded immigration detention facilities. Last year, Landry stood alongside Trump at the White House as South Korean carmaker Hyundai’s announced plans to open its first U.S. steel mill in Louisiana.
Retired Louisiana lawmaker Craig Romero said Landry, who once worked for him as an aide, has long understood the value of cultivating ties to those with power, even while serving in the Louisiana National Guard.
“He said ‘Everybody wants to be my friend in the Guard because I drive the general around’,” Romero recalled.
In response to public information requests for records surrounding Landry's early work as envoy, his office said that “any work done by the Governor regarding this project is voluntary and not state business.”
In the interview with Fox News, Landry said he planned to attend a dogsledding event on the island in March after receiving an invite from “a Greenlander.” He did not say which event, but the possibility of Landry making an appearance rattled organizers of Greenland's national dogsledding championship.
Mikkel Jeremiassen, chairman of the Greenland Dogsledding Association, said in a statement this week that Landry's attendance would be “wholly inappropriate.”
Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Landry was elected governor in 2023, not 2024.
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, third from left, Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, not shown, and their delegations leave the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the grounds of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry records a social media video outside the White House, Monday, March 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
People walk in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
