Browns' Green, Steelers' Porter engage in pre-game encounter

Both players were ejected for fighting 30 minutes before the game.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- The "jaw-jacking" and "gum-popping" -- to borrow a few words from Kenard Lang -- started earlier in the week, but it quickly escalated before Sunday's game when the Browns and Steelers gathered near midfield for stretching.
About a half hour before the game, Browns running back William Green and Steelers linebacker Joey Porter began trash talking a few feet in front of the Cleveland bench.
What they said isn't quite clear -- neither player was available after the game -- but the talking quickly escalated to a heated exchange.
"You got guys jaw-jacking and popping their gums trying to see who's the bigger man," said Lang, a defensive lineman for the Browns. "That's how it goes."
Rivalry always heated
Lang called the trash talking between the teams "an annual thing" and few people were surprised to see it carry over to Sunday, especially after Browns lineman Gerard Warren got in trouble earlier in the week for threatening to forearm Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the head, adding "Kill the head and the body's dead."
But Warren actually talked to Roethlisberger before the game to clear up any misunderstanding.
"We talked a little bit, we laughed," Roethlisberger said. "He said, 'Let's just play football, have some fun and forget about what was said.' "
Obviously, the other players didn't take Warren's advice, and fullback Terrelle Smith was near Green when the argument broke out.
"[Porter] talks before every game," said Smith. "Maybe he talked to the wrong people."
Green and Porter then got in each other's faces, the talking turned to yelling and may have escalated to spitting, although Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward denied it.
"They were talking, just talking," Ward said, smiling. "The spit came out of both their mouths."
Getting physical
Green then allegedly tried -- and failed -- to head-butt Porter and both players started throwing wild punches. Porter landed one punch, bloodying Green's lip.
When Smith was asked whether he thought about breaking it up, he shook his head.
"I'm done with that," said Smith, adding that he worked as a security guard in college. "Not anymore."
Smith didn't think Warren's comments had anything to do with the fight.
"I didn't even know about his comments until I came to the stadium," he said. "You've got 115 grown men out there and one man thinks he's Superman and the other thinks he's kryptonite. That's what happens."
As soon as the punches were thrown, players on both teams stepped in quickly to break up the fight. Referee Jeff Triplette then called offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and ejected both players.
"Joey has to be smart," Ward said. "Those guys are not playing for much and we have a great thing going on here. It was just a bad situation that he should have handled better."
Browns losing focus?
The ejections likely had little effect on the game -- if anything, it was worse for Pittsburgh -- but Cleveland quarterback Jeff Garcia wondered if Warren's comments, and the pregame fight, are showing the bad side of the Browns.
"It's unfortunate what happened," Garcia said. "That can't be the character of the team. We can't afford to lose players before the game even starts."
And Warren's comments?
"I don't think it's ever good to add fuel to the fire," he said. "That's all I have to say about that."