Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Richie Incognito has been called dirty throughout his career. Houston Texans defensive lineman Antonio Smith just said it more aggressively than any player we've heard before after Houston's whitewash of Miami.
"A dirty player being let to play dirty ... Richie Incognito," Smith said via the Houston Chronicle. "Everything that's illegal that can be done on the football field he does it, but mainly he was hitting people after the play, sliding down on your leg, grabbing your ankle and trying to twist to break your ankle and he was doing it right in front of the referees and he was still in the game."
We could write some analysis to this, but it's not going to be as entertaining or informative as Smith's quotes.
"It's the referees' job to stop him from doing it because everything that I would do to stop him I would get a penalty for. I told myself you’ve got to humble yourself and keep playing. There were so many times that I would have to loved to just be like hockey. Drop the helmets off, drop the gloves, go fisticuffs. We're men. Let's go at it."
Maybe we can see a Smith-Incognito rematch in the, uh, playoffs. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross expects to see the Dolphins there!
UPDATE: Incognito refused to apologize for his playing style in a Monday tweet.
- *
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.