A week after successfully rope-a-doping the Packers into assuming the 49ers would run quarterback Colin Kaepernick all day long, coach Jim Harbaugh has been wise to avoid saying anything that would stir up the Seahawks.
The wisdom hasn’t completely trickled down to his team.
Running back Anthony Dixon, who recently turned down an offer of $24,000 from Nnamdi Asomugha to give up No. 24, has chimed in with a comment that is sure to both get the Seahawks a little riled up, and create a little controversy.
“Extra weight on the racks all week getting less sleep preparing for these She-Hawks I love hostile environments Imma feel right at home,” Dixon tweeted late Wednesday.
Applying female characteristics to male opponents invites strong criticism of Dixon. It’s legitimately offensive to women (and if one woman is offended, the NFL will listen), and it’s a very short leap from there to the kind of homophobia that keeps gay football players deep in the closet.
The more immediate problem is that, at a time when Harbaugh has been tiptoeing through his press conferences to not stir up the team that handed San Fran last December its worst loss of the Harbaugh era, Dixon has given Seahawks coach Pete Carroll something he can use to give his players an extra kick in the pants before Sunday night.