Dez Bryant was torturing the Dallas Cowboys' defense during Sunday evening's Blue and White Scrimmage.
Second-year safety J.J. Wilcox decided to defend his unit.
During one supposedly non-contact drill Bryant came across the middle and Wilcox walloped the star receiver.
Bryant popped up after making the snag and rammed the safety with a head-butt, per the team's official website. Wilcox then countered with haymakers to Bryant's helmet before teammates intervened.
After the scrimmage Bryant displayed maturity and dismissed the hit, saying he hoped the rest of the defense plays with Wilcox's attitude.
"I love it. I love every bit of it," Bryant said, per the team's official website. "The reason why I love it is because that's what we need. Just in the heat of the moment, it got physical. It turned into like a real competition. I felt it. J.J. put a nice hit on me. 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."
Wilcox admitted he took liberty with the hit.
"I got a good little cheap shot in on him," he said. "We're still brothers, though. We still talk and talk about us doing our thing. It's just part of football. That's a safety's dream to see a guy coming over the middle like that. I just hope I can take that to the game."
The Cowboys need whatever edge they can get to overcome the talent deficiencies on the defensive side of the ball.
What the scuffle provided more than anything was another look at the more mature leader into which Bryant has begun to grow.
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