Texans defensive end Antonio Smith and Titans offensive lineman Leroy Harris got into a scuffle after a play in Tennessee yesterday. Shocking, I know. Smith has been one of the more combustible Texans in his career here, willing to do sack dances while trailing 21-3, jump offsides once every few games, and trash talk anybody.
↵Yesterday, it happened with a few seconds left on the play clock. Brian Cushing, ostensible leader, and Bernard Pollard both went over to cool him down, tell him to cut it out, and not get a penalty that would have given the Titans an easy field goal in the last few seconds of the half. Smith appears to yank off Cushing's helmet, giving the Titans 15 yards anyway by somehow tricking the referees into thinking that Cushing did it on his own. reminding everyone that our referees for this game were just awful on both sides.
Either way you slice it, there was a confrontation there. Teammates trying to calm a fiery guy down before he gave the other team points at the end of the half. But no shoving occurred. No punches were thrown. Cushing's helmet was yanked off, but it didn't appear like it was malice so much as Smith getting pushed back while grabbing out in front of him.
↵So surprise surprise, this morning I'm hearing all about a 'fight' that happened between teammates in the game. Mike Florio, captain of Pro Football Talk's anti-Cushing Steroid Brigade Power Hour, obviously called it a fight (HURRRRR ROID RAGE HURRRRR). Yahoo? The same. Kuharsky? They squared off.
↵Everyone was in such a rush to pile on to the terrible Texans defense that they couldn't even get the story right. A fight happened when Andre Johnson beat Cortland Finnegan to a pulp with his bare fists. This was just a confrontation between teammates. Pile on Smith for being stupid enough to get baited by the notoriously dirty Titans. Pile on the ball that Troy Nolan tipped in the air that should've been an easy interception, only to be caught by Kenny Britt. Pile on the Texans for allowing Kerry Collins to ravage them.
↵There are many ways to properly assault the Texans defense today. You don't have to make up a story to do it. If this play was a fight, then every NFL play is a fight. We all know that you're disappointed that Johnson and Finnegan didn't drop gloves again for the easy story. Get over it.
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