The Giants are no longer punchless.
A brawl broke out Monday at practice that included punches exchanged by center Jon Feliciano and linebacker Cam Brown, offensive line coach Bobby Johnson shoving Brown in a rare break from protocol and both sidelines emptying.
Tempers flared for four straight plays, beginning when Saquon Barkley lowered his shoulder and knocked cornerback Aaron Robinson off his feet during a “thud” tempo period when tackling is prohibited. Barkley was replaced by running back Antonio Williams, who was on the receiving end of Robinson’s hard swipe at the ball on the next play and linebacker Tae Crowder tossing him to the ground on the third.
“It got a little hot out there, but when you cool off in the locker room, that’s the energy you want to see from [Saquon],” safety Julian Love said. “I know we won’t be caught sleeping again when that comes.”
The powder keg was lit for the next snap, when Feliciano sought out Crowder like a missile and kneed him as they tumbled to the ground. Brown dragged Feliciano out from the pile on his buttocks as he seemingly played dead with his protective Guardian cap pulled over his eyes.
Feliciano rose to his feet and threw a punch at Brown, who already was locked up with Johnson. Brown went around the corner of the scrum to retaliate at Feliciano. Both had helmets on, which is a formula for a hand injury. Johnson’s involvement struck some inside the facility as unprofessional.
Feliciano, Brown and Crowder were not made available to the media upon request, while Johnson previously was scheduled to speak Wednesday.
“I don’t think any of us have crossed a line,” Love said. “We know Jon. He’s not crossing the line. It gets intense, things happen. We’re going to respond. [The offense] can expect that and we can expect that from them. We don’t take it personally. You defend your guys.”
Head coach Brian Daboll gathered players together for a three-minute lecture as fans in the stands started a “Let’s Go Giants!” chant. The fight couldn’t have come as a complete surprise to Daboll, who sensed his players were gassed but didn’t pull back with a preseason game looming Thursday.
“He says, ‘Losing teams do that,’ ” rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger said of Daboll’s message, “so we’ve got to come out and be physical, but we’ve got to be smart as well.”
Daboll inherited a Giants team that is an NFL-worst 22-59 over the past five seasons.
“Everything he said is correct: Losing your composure is losing football,” ninth-year pro defensive tackle Justin Ellis said. “There are going to be times where you are hot, you are tired, you don’t want to be bothered, you are losing or things might not be going your way — and you can’t lose your composure because there are people who want to talk crap and get you out of your head.”
Practice continued for another 15 minutes without incident, including another series for the first-teamers.
It was the second fight over two weeks of camp, but the tussle between offensive guard Shane Lemieux and defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams never escalated to the level of punches.
After the fight settled down, Barkley tapped Robinson as if to apologize for bringing more force than the practice rules dictate.
In general terms, “being a pro” is how running back Matt Breida described offensive players walking the fine line between displaying an ability to break tackles and understanding defensive players are handcuffed. It is a sore spot when offensive players initiate contact and then the defensive player who retaliates gets caught.
“The defense is typically the ones that get reprimanded the most, but then offensive guys do it and it’s like, ‘Cmon,’ ” linebacker Blake Martinez said. “It’s definitely tough.”
Edge rusher Jihad Ward tried to downplay the ugliness by calling it “people coming together as one” and giving “wild hugs.” Feliciano later shared The Post’s photo of his limp body being dragged by Brown with four laughing emojis.
“People outside are going to look at it like, ‘Oh! This is crazy,” Ward said, “but we’re going to laugh at it in the locker room.”
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