A feisty afternoon of competition between star cover man Darrelle Revis and wideout Brandon Marshall boiled over into chaos at Jets camp on Friday.
After beating Revis for an 80-yard touchdown catch, Marshall and the cornerback were seen jawing at each, bad blood that later culminated with the receiver walking up to Revis along the sideline and taking a swing at the defender.
Marshall then dug into Revis with insults, shouting a "DeAndre Hopkins comment at (him), reminding the corner of his struggles last season against the Houston receiver -- a low blow," per ESPN's Rich Cimini, who noted that: "Marshall wouldn't shut up, screaming at Revis when he was on the sideline."
The fisticuffs came after Revis and Marshall went at each other all day, with Revis using his surgically repaired right wrist to jam Marshall at the line.
NFL Media's Kimberly Jones noted the two later exchanged words after getting tangled up in the air. When Marshall asked if Revis was OK, the defender shot back, saying: "Get that (expletive) out of here."
Marshall later claimed that Revis swung first and baited him into punching back, saying, per Jones: "Can't let nobody slap me in the face."
Marshall admitted the situation "went too far" because of the heated snaps between the duo, but added "there's a thin line between football and being a man."
The veteran wideout also expressed remorse over cursing at an official who didn't call pass interference on Revis, largely because the incident unfolded near a cluster of children watching practice.
Revis finally commented about the incident Saturday after practice.
"Every year guys get after it," Revis said. "It's football. ... It's good for us to compete the way we did."
After seeing New York's season take a distracting and embarrassing turn last summer when linebacker IK Enemkpalipunched quarterback Geno Smith, Jets coach Todd Bowles effectively downplayed Friday's shenanigans, saying: "Both of them got to where they were from making plays and not backing down. Neither player is gonna back down. We like their competitiveness, but you just got to keep it clean and, for the most part, they did."
Said Bowles of Marshall: "They were going at it all day. It got a little chippy, I mean that's just part of football. It's camp. You can go to every camp probably around the league and you're going to hear the same thing. Everybody gets chippy. It's nothing to write home about."
Bowles even acknowledged that he appreciated hearing Marshall toss insults, noting that players need to "use any means necessary when you're on the field."
"I love it. It's football," Bowles said. "We're not here judging a beauty pageant. You want some players that are chippy and know how to play, and keep it clean, but you want them on the edge."
He's right. It's easy to overreact to this, but flare-ups are the cost of long, hot training camp sessions. Marshall and Revis are deeply competitive athletes and the latter, especially, has always been known as one of the league's grittiest practice players. Marshall is no stranger to losing his cool, but that's part of the overall (very talented) package -- and the Jets understand that.
Bowles did his part to nip this in the bud. We don't expect Gang Green -- once a magnet for drama -- to turn this into a bigger distraction than it needs to be.
