Aqib Talib and Pierre Garςon mixed it up during a joint practice between their teams. But apparently all’s well that ends well as the two posed for a photo with Von Miller after the practice ended.
“At the end of the practice, they were sitting, laughing with each other, talking,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Guys are competitive and guys support their teammates, and everyone’s got each other’s backs. So anytime there’s a little scuffle on the field it’s really hard to keep people back on both sides because everyone is so protective of each other. I think that says a lot about both teams.”
The melee started with Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. tipping a pass by 49ers quarterback Brian Hoyer that safety Justin Simmons picked off. Talib threw a shoulder block on Garςon that Garςon took exception to, tackling Talib.
“It was a pretty dirty move,’’ Harris said of Garςon, via Mike Klis of KUSA-TV.
Talib claimed innocence, saying he “got tackled . . . [and] it went left.” More players joined in as the teams mixed it up.
“Just a little wrestling match, it wasn’t no major thing,’’ Talib said. “I’ve been in real fights. That was nothing.’’
The Broncos offense and the 49ers defense also had a disagreement.
“We want to be smart bullies,’’ Broncos head coach Vance Joseph. “We don’t want to be idiots. We don’t want to get penalties that cost us big plays in the game. . . . We want to be aggressive, but not hurt our football team with selfish penalties. When you’re fighting a guy one-on-one, that’s your battle and you hurt us, that’s about you and that’s selfish. We don’t want that.”
