NEW YORK -- All day Tuesday, Jets wideout Brandon Marshall was in a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, where he was the defendant in a civil trial in which a woman accused him of punching her four years ago outside a New York City nightclub.

But Tuesday evening, in a strange, coincidental juxtaposition of events, Marshall was uptown, near Central Park, where he was a recipient of the Ernie Accorsi Humanitarian Award at the New York Athletic Club.

The New York Chapter of the National Football Foundation presented Marshall with the award, which was in recognition of his efforts with Project 375, the non-profit foundation he founded to raise awareness about mental health issues and to combat the stigma surrounding mental health disorders.

Marshall declined to answer any questions about his court case, about which more detail can be found here. But he did speak to reporters about quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's ongoing contract dispute with the Jets, and Marshall also opened up about his work with Project 375, and what it means to him.

"To be honest, I really don't care about accolades and awards," Marshall said. "But I would say that affirmation is vital for all of us. And it gives me fuel to continue to move forward because the work that we do is hard; not everyone makes it."

Marshall suffers from borderline personality disorder. He wasn't diagnosed until five years ago.

Jets head coach Todd Bowles, who was at Tuesday night's event to support Marshall, has known Marshall the two were together with the Dolphins, when Bowles was an assistant coach.

"To watch him grow as a young man, and for him to have a disorder, and then for him not only to help himself, but decide to help other people and their plight, and spend his own money and time doing that, I think that's outstanding," Bowles said. "You can't help but marvel at what he's doing."

As for the court case, Bowles acknowledged it was "interesting" that the start of Marshall's civil trial fell on the same day Marshall received a humanitarian award. But Bowles said he was unaware of what might have happened on the night of the alleged assault, which occurred when he and Marshall were not working together.

"I just came to support him at this event," Bowles said. "That's all I knew that was going on."

Dom Cosentino may be reached at dcosentino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @domcosentino. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.