Last week, Dolphins guard Richie Incognito was voted the second-dirtiest player in the NFL by his peers, which he called a “badge of honor.” But after a dirty play got him penalized and benched on Sunday, Incognito admitted he had done something dumb.
Incognito picked up a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for shoving Titans linebacker Colin McCarthy’s face into the turf, and McCarthy became the latest player to label Incognito dirty.
“That was kind of dirty,” McCarthy said, via the Sun-Sentinel. “Obviously he got flagged for it, which was nice to see. I don’t know what his intentions were, but that’s on him.”
McCarthy said he told Incognito he didn’t appreciate it.
“I just said it was dirty,” McCarthy said. “We’re trying to play football. Obviously, it was a stupid play. They had a first down on the play and that forced them into first and 25. It was a big play in the game, and we’ll take it.”
Incognito agreed with the “stupid” characterization.
“It was a dumb penalty,” Incognito said. “It definitely hurt the team. It pushed us out of points. It was a mistake on my part.”
Dolphins coach Joe Philbin benched Incognito for that mistake. And sitting on the bench is not a badge of honor.