Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Green said he and Porter apologized to each other.
BEREA (AP) -- They spit in each other's faces, exchanged a few wild punches and several nasty, not-fit-for-print words during pregame warmups.
Then, Cleveland running back William Green and Pittsburgh Joey Porter got thrown out together -- before the opening kickoff.
But like two school kids sent to detention for fighting during recess, the two are friends again.
Wait a second. Aren't the Browns and Steelers supposed to hate each other?
"We talked after the game and we both realized that it kind of got out of control," Green said Monday. "It's not something that we want to do as players, and we apologized to each other and we left it at that. There's no hard feelings."
What's next, exchanging Christmas cards?
Green regretted his fight with Porter, which began with the two players jawing at each other as the teams went through their pregame drills.
Trash talking
Green said the trash talking quickly escalated once both took off their helmets.
"We kind of got into it, we were saying different words and the next thing I know I feel [a] glock of spit shoot in my face and it just kind of went from there," Green said. "He spit in my face, and that's when I went back at him and pushed him and I spit back at him."
Green said he doesn't know what prompted Porter to spit in his face.
The third-year back missed eight games last season when he was suspended by the NFL for failing the league's substance-abuse policy. He's sorry for his latest episode.
"The last thing I want to do is get ejected from a game," he said. "I'm sorry about that as far as my teammates go, but things happen sometimes and things all went wrong, I wish I could take it back."
Porter was unavailable for comment. The Steelers, who won 24-10, were off on Monday.
Davis speaks
Browns coach Butch Davis said he spoke with Green about the fight and is confident he won't have any other problems.
"He just shouldn't have gotten involved in it," Davis said. "Hopefully, it will be something that will never happen again."
Green was not permitted to be near the field and watched the Browns lose to their archrival from a luxury box. He said Porter contacted him on his cell phone afterward.
"He got the number somehow and gave me a call, and if not, maybe I would've given him a call," Green said. "We're professionals, we have families to feed and it's not something we want to have riding on our heads."
Green said his next apology would be to Browns owner Randy Lerner.