IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman has an explanation for his sideline scuffle with secondary coach Dave Campo: He was just hyping their undercard matchup on the hoped-for bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"We've got a split, 70-30," Newman said Tuesday. "I got 70 (percent), he got 30, so it'll be nice. We're on pay-per-view. ... A lot of people are going to watch it."
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During the first quarter of the Cowboys' 7-6 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday, Campo met Newman as he came to the sideline, but the cornerback pushed away the coach, and they exchanged words.
Campo and Cowboys coach Wade Phillips have downplayed the incident. Newman wouldn't discuss it after the game, then made a big joke of it at his locker Tuesday.
Newman started off saying it would be a Don King-promoted event in Las Vegas. Then he came up with the idea that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would be in charge.
Of course, Newman predicted he would win.
"I got reach! I got height!" Newman said. "I've got this."
Newman's only semi-serious comments echoed the coaches' notion that tempers always flare in the heat of competition.
"Every team has things that go down. So what?" Newman said. "We're all in a fight. It's in the same spirit. We're in the fight to get to the playoffs. It's all the same thing."
Told what Newman said, Campo waved a hand, smiled, then said, "Everything's good."
The Cowboys (7-3) host the Oakland Raiders (3-7) on Thursday.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press