FIGHT! Well, not really, obviously. A scuffle isn't a fight. It's just a thing where one guy throws a swing while backing away that he knows won't connect, and then both guys just sort of angrily run at each other while teammates pretend to separate them.
The point here this: Dez Bryant and Tyler Patmon scuffled at Cowboys camp on Sunday. To the video:
That's a scuffle, friends. This is the part where I tell you it's not a big deal and that scuffles happen all the time in training camp. It's not a big deal. Scuffles happen all the time in training camp.
In fact, nearly the same thing happened at Cowboys camp last year, when Dez got in a scuffle with safety J.J. Wilcox.
The skirmish took place when Wilcox smashed Bryant after the wideout caught a pass from Tony Romo up the right seam while running a slant pattern.
Wilcox lowered his shoulder and dropped Bryant, who took exception to the big hit. Bryant then went after the second-year safety. Wilcox responded by swinging his arm in a punch-throwing motion as a swarm of defenders and offensive players converged, pushing and shoving each other. The scrum quickly dissolved and order was restored.
Basically the same exact thing that happened above, right?
Here's what Dez had to say about Sunday's scuffle:
"It's two great competitors going at it. We were chirping a little bit back and forth. I got a little bit overheated. ... I was giving him a little bit of mouth, talking about a whole bunch of stuff to him. He was talking back to me, and it just escalated to the next play. ... He wasn't going to back down, I wasn't going to back down. ... At the end of the day, we shook hands, we hugged and we respect one another."
While Patmon added:
"We're family. It's intense out here, it's training camp. It's part of it. ... We love each other."
Here's Dez last year:
“J.J. put a nice hit on me,” the receiver 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.”
And Wilcox at the time:
“I got a good little cheap shot in,” Wilcox said. “That’s the spark you need. I am trying to feed off it and get my defense right.”
Not exactly the same, but pretty much the same spirit. A defensive back gets physical with Dez, they scuffle, but that's just the intensity of training camp and it's all good. Which it is. Because this is training camp, where sometimes people just scuffle.