28
Nov
2010
FIGHT! Andre Johnson-Cortland Finnegan throw punches, ejected (VIDEO)
By TheDarkHorse
A pedestrian tilt between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans devolved into ugliness on Sunday.
With the Texans leading 17-0 in the fourth quarter, Houston wide receiver Andre Johnson was escorted from the field after throwing punches at Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan, in what became an all-out brawl.
The two got at each other at the end of a play, with Finnegan throwing a jab at Johnson, only to have his helmet ripped off by the wideout.
With the two entangled, circling around on the field, Finnegan ripped off Johnson’s helmet, launching it skyward, while being whipped to the ground by the wideout. Johnson then unleased a series of punches at Finnegan before the two were separated.
Both players were hit with 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and ejected. Johnson was pulled away by team personnel while Finnegan jogged off to the Titans’ locker room.
Johnson had few words after the game, and called the fight “just a buildup of things over plays,” according to ESPN.
“I would like to apologize to the organization, our owner, my teammates,” Johnson said. “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.”
ESPN reported that Texans owner Bob McNair called the fight in Johnson’s favor.
“I awarded it to Andre on points,” McNair said, shrugging off the notion of a suspension for Johnson: “I don’t know why there would be. The DB was all over him and he’s 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.”
Texans offensive lineman Eric Winston was asked to comment on accusations from the Denver Broncos earlier this season suggesting that the Titans defense is dirty. “I think that they are,” he said, per ESPN.
“You’ve got guys pushing guys over piles, hitting quarterbacks late, doing that stuff, obviously throwing punches, that’s all crazy stuff to me,” Winston said. “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.”
These two teams are not friends, having fought last year, as well.
The Texans (5-6) ultimately won 20-0, while the Titans (5-6) dropped their fourth in a row. Lost amidst the brawl: Chris Johnson’s low-impact 5 yards rushing on seven attempts.
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Johnson did the league a favor. Finnegan is the cheapest player in the league, and that’s something he actually takes pride in. He finally got what was coming to him.
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The fight reminded me of semi-pro football, and no I do not mean Arena football, which is considered professional football. Semi-pro football is basically the equivalent to beer league softball in many states. A group of guys who still love the game and have alot of built up testosterone play tackle football. While many of the semi-pro athletes are great guys, some are thugs who are looking to fight. An unsual number of the games include fist fights and bench clearing brawls. On numerous occassions the fighting was so out of hand the officials left the stadium. After watching the video of the fight I realized that Johnson and Finnegan were not acting like bush-leaguers–they truly are! Grown up thugs making millions of dollars!
[...] face it: Andre Johnson did the league a favor. When the all-pro WR beat Cortland Finnegan like he stole something during yesterdays Texans/Titans game, it somehow felt as though justice had [...]
[...] in the clutch once again, having mic’d up Texans’ WR Andre Johnson for Sunday’s now-infamous clash with the Titans. In the piece, you hear the build up to Johnson’s brawl with Cortland [...]