Gang Green practice was ‘faster’ ... ‘more physical’ following fight

While Friday’s practice altercation between Brandon Marshall and Darrelle Revis could pull the Jets apart, the more likely scenario is that it brings them closer together.

At the very least, the startling sight of the team’s two biggest stars exchanging punches and vicious trash talk sent a jolt of positive energy through the Jets’ youn- ger players.

“We see it as good competition,” second-year defensive tackle Leonard Williams said Saturday when asked what impact the Marshall-Revis dustup had on him. “It’s football. When two good players are going against each other, there’s going to be a little tension.

“All they’re doing is pushing each other, and it sparked a fire in the rest of practice.

Everybody just started going faster and started playing more physical, so we see it as a good thing.”

Getting that energizing effect in an otherwise dog-days practice in training camp might explain why Jets coach Todd Bowles didn’t exactly hurry to separate the two stars on the field, even after punches had been thrown by both sides.

With a mostly young roster like the one Bowles has been handed, in a lot of ways the incident was a gift to Bowles and his coaches.

“Seeing guys who have been here for so many years and still going so hard in practice is uplifting in practice,” Williams said.

The danger, though, is if the hard feelings between Marshall and Revis linger, especially after Marshall claimed Revis “crossed the line” with one particular on-field comment and then retaliated by taunting the famously prideful Revis by invoking the monster outing that Texans wideout DeAndre Hopkins had against Revis last year.

Marshall and Revis both insisted that the altercation had been forgotten and no hard feelings lingered, but it didn’t appear to be a coincidence that Bowles didn’t have Revis cover Marshall on a single

pass play in Saturday night’s scrimmage-like practice.

Former NFL wideout Chad Johnson, a highly volatile player like Marshall in his career, predicted the Marshall-Revis incident would end up being a boon to the Jets.

“Just hearing about the Marshall-Revis altercation,” Johnson wrote on Twitter Saturday. “They’re definitely going to have a good season, you’d have to be a player to understand.”

Teammates didn’t appear worried the scuffle would have a lasting negative effect.

“I just think they were out there trying to make things better,” wide receiver Quincy Enunwa said. “It’s just one of those things where we’re in camp, and I think you see a fight all the time. We’re just competing. Those two are really smart, and they know better than to make it into anything personal.”

Williams agreed, insisting that no one in the Jets’ locker room would take sides, either.

“Everybody moved on from it two plays after it happened,” Williams said. “You can’t really dwell on the past. You just have to keep pushing forward.”