SI Article: NFL Players Select League's Dirtiest Player

[macro]

His former teammate Joey Porter tied for second on the list, with three current or former Steelers making the top ten.



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...rty/index.html

Posted: Wednesday November 4, 2009 1:01PM; Updated: Wednesday November 4, 2009 3:25PM

Dirtiest NFL Player: Steelers' Ward
By Richard Deitsch, SI.com

Hines Ward is the dirtiest player in the NFL, according to a Sports Illustrated poll of 296 players released this week.

The Steelers' wide receiver, long considered the league's best blocking wide receiver, received 11.6 percent of the vote. He was followed by Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth (6.0), Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter (6.0), Bengals safety Roy Williams (5.1) and Titans center Kevin Mawae (4.6). Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan (4.2), Rams guard Richie Incognito (3.7), Falcons guard Harvey Dahl (3.7), Steelers safety Troy Polamalu (3.7) and Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (3.2) rounded out the top 10.

Ward, 33, has a long history of physical play. Last October, he was fined $15,000 for hits in back-to-back weeks that weren't penalized during the game. Later that month, Ward broke the jaw of Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers with a surprise downfield block. The hit, which ended Rivers' season, did not draw a flag. "That's what he's known for," Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe said. "He's a blind-side guy."

Discussing his reputation with SI last year, Ward said, "It's hard to sit there and tell everybody it's a violent sport but tone it down a little. When I go across the middle, those guys aren't going to tackle me softly and lay me down to the ground. That's not football. I find it ironic that now you see a receiver delivering blows, and it's an issue. But I haven't changed. I've been doing it this way for 11 years."

The poll was conducted in September and included some well-known names in the top 20: Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (3.2 percent), Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman (2.3 percent) and Jets linebacker Bart Scott (2.3 percent). Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, who retired last summer, received three votes.

The Broncos' Brandon Marshall, the only other receiver listed in the poll, received one vote. No running backs were selected, but one quarterback did get a vote: the Titans' Vince Young.

[GIDP]

Well considering how much they get in trouble off the field I dont find this surprising.

[Dom Heffner]

The league will be better once he's gone. Overrated and dirty, great combo. My least favorite athlete of all time.

Why some defensive player just doesn't take him out for good is a testament to how well most players play the game.

[Yachtzee]

I notice most of the players listed in the article have ties to either the Steelers, Ravens or Titans. I have to wonder if team culture plays a roll as well. I seem to remember the Broncos being considered a very dirty team under Shanahan when Alex Gibbs was promoting his scheme focusing on cut blocks. In this article, former players talk about Gibbs directives on using cut blocks to take opponents out at the legs. You have to wonder about teams that seem to produce (or seek out) dirty players.

[oneupper]

Porter plays for my Dolphins and I wish he didn't.

[GAC]

All-time IMO..... no contest.

The Assassin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJrDYQwwbuY

He made you regret ever wanting to play professional football.

Football is a contact sport. Now I don't say that to condone blindside hits, or players who play dirty; but the truth of the matter is - growing up I loved the hard hitting, smashing type of football. Guys came off that field bloodied and beaten.

And they also didn't have the uniform padding/protection, and rules, that they had today. I don't even know if there were rules back then.

In the last issue of ESPN's Insider Carson Palmer said that somebody is gonna get killed in the NFL. Carson - be glad you didn't play the game 30-40 years ago. The style of play then shortened the careers of quite a few great QB's.

But growing up, I loved players like Dick Butkus, Deacon Jones, Mean Joe Green, and of course - Jack Lambert.

[Tommyjohn25]

All-time IMO..... no contest.

The Assassin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJrDYQwwbuY

He made you regret ever wanting to play professional football.

Football is a contact sport. Now I don't say that to condone blindside hits, or players who play dirty; but the truth of the matter is - growing up I loved the hard hitting, smashing type of football. Guys came off that field bloodied and beaten.

And they also didn't have the uniform padding/protection, and rules, that they had today. I don't even know if there were rules back then.

In the last issue of ESPN's Insider Carson Palmer said that somebody is gonna get killed in the NFL. Carson - be glad you didn't play the game 30-40 years ago. The style of play then shortened the careers of quite a few great QB's.

But growing up, I loved players like Dick Butkus, Deacon Jones, Mean Joe Green, and of course - Jack Lambert.

I was gonna say something similar to this GAC. ESPN, Roger Goodell, and Fantasy football have made people forget what kind of sport football is. Contact. Now you have quarterbacks asking for flags (and getting them) when someone touches a thread on their skirt...err....pants, fans spending more time complaining about hits that most of the time don't even draw flags than they do watching the game, and you get polls like this one to feed the beast. In 20 years, at this pace, the sport will be unrecognizeable. QB's will wear flags and red shirts and defenses will have to count to 10 before they can rush. Defense will be a thing of the past, which is a shame. The NFL wants flashy, high octane passing offenses and the majority of fans are buying into the hype. Count me out. I like FOOTBALL. Hard, gritty, down and dirty football. Beat your opponent and take their lunch money when you're done. Not cheating. Beating. All I hear anymore from the place I go and watch football is "Boo hooo...that play was dirty, boo hooo...that hit was too hard". Ugh, makes me sick. Thanks ESPN.

[Yachtzee]

All-time IMO..... no contest.

The Assassin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJrDYQwwbuY

He made you regret ever wanting to play professional football.

Football is a contact sport. Now I don't say that to condone blindside hits, or players who play dirty; but the truth of the matter is - growing up I loved the hard hitting, smashing type of football. Guys came off that field bloodied and beaten.

And they also didn't have the uniform padding/protection, and rules, that they had today. I don't even know if there were rules back then.

In the last issue of ESPN's Insider Carson Palmer said that somebody is gonna get killed in the NFL. Carson - be glad you didn't play the game 30-40 years ago. The style of play then shortened the careers of quite a few great QB's.

But growing up, I loved players like Dick Butkus, Deacon Jones, Mean Joe Green, and of course - Jack Lambert.

A lot of these guys are some of the same guys who complain about the NFL and the players union aren't taking enough care of them with regard to pensions and health benefits. There seems to be a double standard. They talk about how great the old days were when you could hit harder and knock each others blocks off and denigrate today's players and rules for being too soft, but then they complain about all the health problems they have as a result of that hard play and whine about their pensions and health care.

If you're going to complain about how bad your life is today because you suffer from the long term effects of the hard and reckless style of play back in your time, then you shouldn't glorify guys who went out there trying to knock guys out. It seems ridiculous that players would complain about the long term effects of the concussions they received while talking about how great a guy was because he could knock someone unconscious. And you certainly shouldn't criticize the NFL for taking steps and changing rules intended to protect the health of the players. What's more important? Knocking someone's helmet off or trying to make sure the players on the field aren't suffering long term health problems from playing football? These guys sound like drug addicts who talk about how great it was to do drugs in their day and how drugs should be legal, but then also want free health care to help them with effects they suffer from lifelong drug use.

[Dom Heffner]

You should hit hard and clean.

The rules protecting QB's are legit. The position demands that you not be 350 lbs.

It's not tough, manly, or fair to have open season on the QB.

[GAC]

Yachtzee and Dom.... a lot of what you say I agree with absolutely. One thing that has changed is the massive amounts of money that is invested in players today, especially QBs, and that the NFL wants to protect their investments.

And the other aspect, and more important one, is that medical research and study, especially from examining many of those former NFL players, is showing the residual, long term effects of those years of abuse.

One discussion that has become a hot button item again are concussions.

They didn't know THEN what we know NOW, as far as the lasting, damaging effects of such hard, physical contact.

Last month, CBS 60 Minutes ran an excellent show on former NFL players, and the link between and trauma and dementia....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...in;contentBody

NFL players sacrificing healthy brains to game.....http://scrippsnews.com/content/bloun...hy-brains-game

The list is quite comprehensive of former NFL players who today are suffering from various forms of dementia from all those years of hard hits and physical contact.

[Dom Heffner]

Believe it or not, GAC, I agree with you as well- there is nothing like a good hard hitting football game. Your post was awesome, truthfully.

I think where I differ from others is that I don't like hard hits for the sake of hard hits.

I have a friend whom I argue with constantly over Hines Ward's hit on Keith Rivers last season.

It comes down to this for me: I know the hit was "legal." But that doesn't mean you take that hit on somebody just becuase you can.

People like Hines Ward, for me, show what they are about when they do that.

The fact the NFL changed the rule, named it after him, shows that while the hit may have been legal, it wasn't the type of play they wanted to continue seeing.

All I know is if Hines Ward played against a team I owned, I'd sign the worst football player on earth and have him end that dude on the cheapest hit ever seen in the NFL and they'd both be out of the league for life. I can't believe the Ravens haven't found a way to pay him back.

Football is a violent sport, yes- but when you use that fact to go around and cheap shot people you're an idiot.

Anyhoo, GAC, thanks for the video and reminding me of being a kid.

[DTCromer]

I'm still trying to figure out how Hines Ward is dirty.

[GIDP]

I'm still trying to figure out how Hines Ward is dirty.

Cheapshots = Dirty

Seems pretty reasonable

[redhawkfish]

I'm still trying to figure out how Hines Ward is dirty.

I am too!

[DTCromer]

Cheapshots = Dirty

Seems pretty reasonable

You mean like the clean one on Keith Rivers?

I'm still laughing at that "cheapshot" by Bengals fans. Those kinds of hits happen all the time on INT and Punt returns all the time, yet they aren't called "cheap" then.