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From Around the League on Possible Andre Johnson Suspension
November 28th, 2010 Matt Loede Posted in News
Just five hours ago the NFL's most humble highest paid wide receiver went head-to-head with the NFL's self-proclaimed dirtiest player. In the fourth quarter of the Texans' 20-0 win over the Titans, Titans' cornerback Cortland Finnergan pushed Texans' wide receiver Andre Johnson to the edge. You can see the play here. Clearly, Finnergan instigated, Johnson fought and Finnergan applauded as his work was completed and Johnson was ejected from the game. After Johnson and Finnergan were ejected then came speculation of suspensions or fines for both players.
On the fight and whether a suspension should be instated against Andre Johnson, Texans' owner Bob McNair said after the game:
"I awarded it to Andre on points," McNair said. Asked if he feared a suspension, McNair continued: "I don't know why there would be. The DB was all over him and he (Finnegan) is the one who initiated it and he'd been doing it the play before and the whole game. He just went a little too far and Andre's the one who was on camera when the action heated up. That's not Andre."
Andre Johnson said he takes pride in his play, which is generally clean:
"I would like to apologize to the organization, our owner, my teammates. What happened out there wasn't me. I just lost my cool and I wish I could take back what happened, but I can't. I'm pretty sure I'll be disciplined for it, I'll have to deal with it from there."
From former Texan, and now-Titan defensive end, Jason Babin on Johnson:
"I was surprised. He's a soft spoken guy who works hard, does the right things. To see him land punches on someone without a helmet on, that was surprising. Emotions get high. That's the way it goes. You'd think for a guy who's 220 pounds to connect like that three times he would knock him out. I don't know, I already thought he was tough, but I guess Cortland is tougher than I thought."
From Texans' offensive tackle, Eric Winston, on the Titans' dirty play:
"You've got guys pushing guys over piles, hitting quarterbacks late, doing that stuff, obviously throwing punches. That's all crazy stuff to me. I don't understand it. I don't get why that is. It seems like they get away with a lot of it though, so I guess they decide to push the limit on it…You've got guys clearly targeting other players who don't have the ball. To me, that's dirty. Maybe by other people's definition of it that isn't. I don't think that they think that's dirty, for whatever reason. But to me that is. It's not like they're doing it by themselves. That's what they are taught to do. And I'm not trying to make a statement about them. I'm just saying that's the Titans. You know what you're getting into."
From around the media, Fox Sports predicts Johnson and Finnergan will be suspended a week or two. Additionally, SBNation.com reports that they'll likely serve a couple of weeks in suspension. Outside speculation, Johnson has never violated the league's personal conduct policy, while Finnergan is a repeat offender (three fines in three straight weeks, including fights). However, we've yet to hear from the horse himself. Once NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell makes his decision, we will know the suspension or fines levied on Johnson and Finnergan. The league should bump this onto its priority list witht he Texans' next game coming Thursday at Philadelphia. Fox Sports reported the league will make a decision tomorrow.
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Tags: andre-johnson, Cortland Finnergan
One Response to "From Around the League on Possible Andre Johnson Suspension"
Ben Dover says:
Andre Johnson shouldn't be suspended kicking Cortland Finnergan's butt yesterday, he should be commended, in fact the only thing he did wrong was to throw Finnergan's helmet, he should have beat him with it.
Finnergan is a punk and should be suspended for the rest of the season, if Roger Goodall was really interested in player safety, which he isn't. Finnergan tried to pull the same stunt with Hines Ward. Ward ripped his helmet off too.
He is trying to establish himself as the NFL's toughest player but a douche-bag can't earn that kind of respect.