Favre comfortable with penalty lap

A fumbled snap in practice sent the Jets quarterback on a jog.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Even Brett Favre isn’t immune to some punishment at practice.

The New York Jets quarterback fumbled a snap from Nick Mangold Sunday morning and knew what was coming next: his first penalty lap.

“He’s one of the guys,” coach Eric Mangini said. “You put the ball on the ground, you have to run. And that’s the way, when we talked about it, he wanted it and that’s the way I wanted it.”

So, there was No. 4 at his second practice with the Jets, jogging along the sideline with Mangold — to hearty cheers from the 4,000 fans there to catch a glimpse of their new quarterback. Favre was given the day off from speaking to the media, but commented through the team.

“It’s not punishment,” said Favre, who couldn’t recall if he had ever run a penalty lap in his previous 17 seasons.

“It’s more of a team unity thing. Nick and I ran it. I told Eric, Day 1, that unless I pass out, I am going to try to do everything that everyone else does.

“I’m no different aside from being a little gray-headed and a little bit older.”

It might have been the NFL’s first penalty lap to draw cheers.

“We missed on the exchange,” Mangold said. “You get used to a new guy and it takes a little bit of time and usually you get the luxury of doing it in the spring where no one’s really around or cheering for laps.”

Video of the disciplinary jog was already posted on the Internet an hour after the morning practice ended and had gotten more than 200 hits on YouTube.

“I need to call my mom and have her tape ESPN,” Mangold said with a chuckle.

“Hopefully I got on there today with a penalty lap. It was weird because it’s a penalty lap and you’re running it because you’ve done something wrong and people are cheering. It was a little different.”

Mangold asked Favre if he was at fault for the wayward snap.

“He made me feel good and said, ‘No,’ ” Mangold said. “I don’t believe him.”

Either way, Favre took it all in stride.

“I’m not embarrassed by it,” he said. “I think it’s kind of funny, but yet serves its purpose. I think things like that are important in the fact that everyone is involved in it.”

The crowd at Hofstra University was scaled down from Favre’s first practice Saturday, which drew 10,500 fans, but was still double what the team usually attracts for a Sunday morning practice.