MARA BITES BACK AT OBJ
Marshall: Claim is just bull spit
The Brandon Marshall era is not going according to plan for anyone.
The Giants wide receiver spent Tuesday denying that he spit in an Eagles fan’s face after a video surfaced of him getting into a verbal altercation with a fan on the field before Sunday’s 27-24 loss.
“No, absolutely not,” a vehement Marshall said. “I think if anybody does that, a fan or player, should be suspended, probably pay a fine and you should have a public apology prepared and they need to read through it on camera.”
The video shows a fan in a roped off section yelling face to face with Marshall, even challenging him to a fight. Marshall, who is wearing a helmet in the video walks away while the Eagles fan begins to scream that the Giants receiver spit on him.
“I’m sure because there was a lot of cameras around, he had his camera, all of his buddies had their cameras out. There should be video evidence of anything on his face or on his body,” Marshall continued. “So, I’m not worrying about that.”
Marshall refused to explain any further details about what happened, but when asked if it was a bad idea to get into it, he said, “No, not at all. Nope.”
He also evaded a question on if the fan said anything to stir a reaction.
“If I spit in the guy’s face, I told you guys what should happen and I feel the same if a fan does the same thing,” he said. “So we can move on to the next question.”
The confrontation with the fan only adds another layer on what has been a disappointing start to his Giants tenure.
Marshall, 33, came to the Giants because he felt it gave him the best chance at winning a championship. The Giants signed Marshall because they felt he gave Eli Manning a big target to complement Odell Beckham.
Now, the team is 0-3 while Marshall has just 10 catches— eight of which came on Sunday— on 20 targets for 93 yards and zero TDs.
“I’ve been in this position before,” Marshall said. “It’s a long season, all kinds of things happen. Every year is different. So, I’m still happy. Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation right now, but if you’ve made it to this point, making it to the NFL, then you’re battle tested, you have a lot of mental toughness.”
Still, the clock is ticking for Marshall and may have already expired on the Giants’ 2017 season.
The numbers are not favorable; just five teams have gone 0-3 and reached the playoffs with the last coming in 1998.
The rest of the NFC East is also 2-1 while the Giants are already 0-2 in the division.
The Giants offense did finally come to life in the fourth quarter in their loss to the Eagles, exploding for 24 points but still managed to fall short.
Marshall is at least hoping that is something they can build on.
“Obviously, there’s no moral victories, but we were able to do some things that we weren’t able to do in the first two weeks, so that’s promising,” he said. “If we build off of that, I think we’ll be fine.” Maybe. It may also be too late.