FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- A day after New York Jets star wide receiver Brandon Marshall and star cornerback Darrelle Revis had to be separated following their skirmish in 11-on-11 action at Friday's practice, Revis brushed the whole thing off as one of those things that happen all the time in training camp.
"It's just football, man," Revis said. "It's nothing more."
On Friday, the two stars matched up against each other several times, and the competition became increasingly heated, with plenty of trash talk flying around. At one point, Marshall brought up the name of Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who burned Revis badly in a game last season.
Finally, in an interval between plays, Marshall walked from the offensive sideline toward Revis, the two started jawing at each other, and Marshall swiped at Revis with an open hand, which didn't connect, before coaches and teammates separated them.
Marshall told reporters that Revis slapped him and made personal remarks that crossed the line of acceptable trash talk. Revis did not speak to reporters Friday, but on Saturday he insisted he hadn't done anything out of order. He said that when he hit Marshall, it was during a play and things happen during a play.
"You might hit somebody in the head, you might get poked in the eye, you might get your foot stepped on," he said. "It's all football. It's all involved. It's a very physical sport.
"We're two very competitive guys, and this hasn't been the first time of us getting into it. We're both physical players, and we like to compete, and I think this is good. This is good for us to compete the way we did. Brandon's not going to stop competing the way he competes, and I'm not going to stop competing the way I compete."
Revis said he and Marshall are cool and did not need to talk about the incident to smooth things over. He also said he was not upset by Marshall's throwing Hopkins' name in his face.
"I might get into a scrap with another receiver tomorrow. It's just what it is, man. It's competition. It's training camp." Darrelle Revis on his scuffle with Brandon Marshall
"We're fine. We're moving on," he said. "I might get into a scrap with another receiver tomorrow. It's just what it is, man. It's competition. It's training camp."
The two did not match up against each other in Saturday's open practice before fans at the Jets' training facility. On the first play of 11-on-11s, they were on the same side of the field, but quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick handed off on a running play. On the second play, Revis was in a zone defense, and Fitzpatrick completed a pass to Marshall underneath the coverage, and Revis tagged Marshall to end the play. After that, the two were not on the field at the same time.
Jets coach Todd Bowles insisted there was no decision by the team to not have the two players go against each other.
"No, it was just practice," he said.
Bowles said he addressed the incident to the team but only in a general manner. He declined to specify his actual message, but some Jets players said the dust-up was no big deal and, in fact, might have helped raise the intensity level at the practice.
"When two good players are going against each other, there's going to be a little bit of tension," defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. "All they're doing is pushing each other. This sparked the fire for the rest of practice. Everybody started going faster, started playing more physical, so we saw it as a good thing."
Said Fitzpatrick: "Those are two of the greats at their position, but yeah, I mean, especially kind of in the dog days of training camp, you're looking for anything extra every day because it's hard to bring it and stay focused. Competing against the other side is kind of what picks us up every day."