First things first, what Aqib Talib did was definitely dirty. You don’t just accidentally shove two fingers into someone’s eye, especially when you have the hand-eye coordination of a professional athlete.
That said, was it really that bad? People are trying to paint Talib’s eye poke out to be one of the most egregious, uncalled-for acts in recent football history. In my opinion, though, if the Three Stooges did it about five times an episode, it can’t be that bad.
And really, while getting poked in the eye can’t be the most comfortable thing, Talib couldn’t have been that far off when he said that Dwayne Allen acted as if he was in an “18-passenger car wreck” — whatever that means.
So instead of continuing to bash on Talib and his WWE-style finishing move, lets take a look at five plays that were dirtier than Aqib Talib’s:
Bonus: Antonio Brown shows what a real punt looks like
Is this considered a dirty play? I mean, everybody seemed to laugh about it afterwards, but Antonio Brown kicked the crap out of Spencer Lanning‘s face.
Whatever it was, it was amazing.
5. Andre Johnson loses it
On one hand, I get it. Cortland Finnegan is unbelievably annoying, and Andre Johnson just lost his cool.
On the other hand, he punched him in the face! A lot!
The only thing that saves Johnson from being higher on this list is me feeling sorry that he had to spend all those years waisting away in Houston. No wonder he had so much pent up anger.
4. Antonio Smith teaches Richie Incognito a lesson
Antonio Smith may be a big part of this year’s Denver defense, but before that, he was probably best known for his longstanding feud with Richie Incognito. In a previous matchup, Smith got fined for kicking Incognito in the face after Incognito decided to hang onto Smith’s legs way after the play was over.
This time around, Smith looked to finish the job.
If Smith had actually landed with his helmet haymaker, he could have very easily been charged for assault. But after everything we’ve heard about Incognito since then, I kind of understand.
3. Ndamukong Suh does Ndamukong Suh things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN_Hhr7xbzw
If you took a pole of the dirtiest players in the NFL, I have no doubt that Ndamukong Suh would stand atop the rest, and it’s because of plays like this.
Whether he hit squarely or not, I can promise that being stomped on by a 300-pound defensive tackle hurts a lot more than being poked by a cornerback.
2. Bill Romanowski‘s infamous spit
Bill Romanowski is unquestionably one of the dirtiest players in NFL history, and I doubt even the biggest Broncos fans would deny that. And of all the questionable things he did during his career, this spit into J.J. Stokes face is the one that has stood the test of time.
Poking a man is mean; spitting in his face is as disrespectful as it gets.
1. Adam Jones reverts back into Pacman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UAs4EExXQ4
This won’t go down as the dirtiest play in NFL history, but I wanted to put it at the top to prove a point. In my eyes, taking off a players helmet, grabbing their head and then slamming it back down into their helmet is infinitely worse than a poke to the eye.
And how many games was Adam “Pacman” Jones suspended for? Zero …
I’m not saying that Talib shouldn’t have been suspended — most of these other guys were — but if he’s going to be suspended, Pacman has to be suspended, too.