Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant and safety J.J. Wilcox got into a fight at Cowboys camp after what Wilcox later admitted was a “cheap shot” on the practice field, but everyone said it was fine afterward.
As the Star-Telegram describes it, Wilcox threw a few wild haymakers and landed at least one punch on Bryant’s face mask, but both players said later that they were cool.
“J.J. put a nice hit on me,” Bryant said. “He pissed me off, but at the end of the day, I loved it. I told him, ‘Keep it coming.’ Hopefully the rest of the guys on that defense – not only the defense, but the offense and the whole team – feed off of that. That’s what it takes to win. That’s what we need to win. You’ve got to have that passion and that love for the game.”
Wilcox said the fight was a sign of two guys who put everything into competing against each other.
“Dez is a great player,” Wilcox said. “He’s a fiery player. With that being said, I’m trying to catch up and get our defense up to their level. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and take the bullet. I took the bullet today. It was a great play and he congratulated me. We’re still brothers. We’re going to fight to get this thing turned around.”
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he doesn’t encourage fights, but he doesn’t exactly mind them either.
“You’re not out here making friends, we’re trying to build a football team,” Garrett said. “One of the ways we believe that happens is creating competitive situations where these guys fight hard against each other, and I think we saw some of that today and it’s really been evident throughout training camp. We’re not encouraging these guys taking these huge hits in practiced. That’s not what we want to do. Having said that, when you get into some competitive situations, sometimes those guys are right up against the edge and that’s not a bad thing for your team either.”
The good news for the Cowboys is that their defense is putting up a fight against their offense in practice. Last year the Cowboys’ defense didn’t put up much of a fight against anyone.
