Rodney Harrison is the perennial player's choice for dirtiest NFL player, but this year Harrison's teammate Vince Wilfork is taking a run for the money. Wilfork's most recent fine came after the AFC Championship game, a fine Wilfork calls "ridiculous."
Whether it's an eye-poke, cheap shot to the knee, or simply grabbing a facemask and twisting a guy's neck, the Patriots defensive tackle has amassed for himself quite the repertoire of dirty tricks. He has been fined by the league four times this year. He has only half that many sacks during the same time.
WILFORK: "It's bad because you go out there and you get a penalty and the first thing you say is, 'Am I going to get fined?' It's ridiculous. Anything you do that's a penalty, it's a fine. I don't think the game should be like that, but the NFL makes the rules and we have to abide by them. We have to do a better job of abiding by them."
"We" have to do a better job of abiding by them? How about you start with yourself, Vince? In the regular-season finale, Wilfork was fined $15,000 for the eye-poke against Giants RB Brandon Jacobs, and he didn't dispute the dirtiness of that play. Neither of those plays, though, holds a candle to Wilfork's cheapest shot of the year: Blatantly trying to take out the knee of Bills QB J.P. Losman, who missed a few games because of a knee injury incurred on the play. It's a shame that Wilfork himself hasn't been forced to miss any action this year.
Here is a video of the Losman play, arguably Wilfork's dirtiest play of the year.
Original Story:
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/pa....
Whether it's an eye-poke, cheap shot to the knee, or simply grabbing a facemask and twisting a guy's neck, the Patriots defensive tackle has amassed for himself quite the repertoire of dirty tricks. He has been fined by the league four times this year. He has only half that many sacks during the same time.
WILFORK: "It's bad because you go out there and you get a penalty and the first thing you say is, 'Am I going to get fined?' It's ridiculous. Anything you do that's a penalty, it's a fine. I don't think the game should be like that, but the NFL makes the rules and we have to abide by them. We have to do a better job of abiding by them."
"We" have to do a better job of abiding by them? How about you start with yourself, Vince? In the regular-season finale, Wilfork was fined $15,000 for the eye-poke against Giants RB Brandon Jacobs, and he didn't dispute the dirtiness of that play. Neither of those plays, though, holds a candle to Wilfork's cheapest shot of the year: Blatantly trying to take out the knee of Bills QB J.P. Losman, who missed a few games because of a knee injury incurred on the play. It's a shame that Wilfork himself hasn't been forced to miss any action this year.
Here is a video of the Losman play, arguably Wilfork's dirtiest play of the year.
Original Story:
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/pa....
