Fitzgerald, Rolle trade friendly fire

Larry Fitzgerald may seem like a docile guy, but this past week he not only sent some trash talk to Antrel Rolle but threatened him with physical violence.

"I told him the other day in a text message, I was going to try to bust his nose," Cardinals All-Pro receiver Fitzgerald said. "When we were in college, he tackled me and inadvertently got his hand in my facemask and had me bleeding on national TV, so I was teasing him about it."

Giants second-team All-Pro safety Rolle said he received that text. And others.

"I've been hearing that ---- all week," he said with a chuckle.

Rolle said he didn't know he had broken Fitzgerald's nose in the Pitt-Miami game in 2002 until the following day, when he watched the highlights and saw Fitzgerald changing his bloody jersey.

"Until the day we die, he's never going to leave that alone," Rolle said. "It's something he always hangs over me."

The two players are very close, not only from their days as Big East battlers but as teammates in Arizona, and each referred to the other as a "brother."

"Larry is a great guy," Rolle said. "He's a guy who made me better throughout my career and I think I definitely helped him out and made him better throughout his career. So it's going to be good to go up against each other and have another battle."

Fitzgerald said he's looking forward to having a chance to talk to Rolle a little bit after the game Sunday. But he knows that Rolle probably will start the conversation during the game.

" 'Trel is going to be doing the talking to me, but I won't do any talking to him," Fitzgerald said. "You know those Miami guys, they like to talk. I don't like to do too much talking. It takes me out of my game and I need to focus."

"I'm going to come up to him and give him a little ----," Rolle said. "I have to. Tough love."