Houston Texans, Travis Johnson in Particular Not Dirty Players

Mike Sando of ESPN recently wrote about a survey of the league's dirtiest players and analyzed which teams received the most personal fouls. The Patriots' Rodney Harrison got the most votes for dirty play, and the Raiders received the most personal fouls.

The Houston Texans received the least personal fouls, but Sando got it completely wrong as it related to Texans defensive tackle Travis Johnson:

Former Patriots receiver Deion Branch drew a line between Harrison's hard-nosed play and the approach Houston Texans defensive lineman Travis Johnson took after knocking out then-Miami Dolphins quarterback Trent Green with a legal hit last season. Johnson stood over the fallen Green and taunted him.

"[Harrison] is not that type of dude, I promise you," Branch said. "He's not going to go into a game and try to hurt someone.

Uh, I'm guessing that Sando didn't actually see that play or maybe he just got his actives and passive mixed up writing about it. It was Trent Green who knocked himself out after Green intentionally blocked Johnson with a low but legal hit. If anyone was dirty in that play, it was Green who admitted he dove low, smashing Johnson's knee with his helmet, causing Johnson to somersault into the air and land on his head.

I'd put up some real speed video of this, but it no longer exists because the NFL pulled it. This slo-mo YouTube version above is all that exists.

I like a lot of what Sando writes, and I am not surprised he got it completely wrong relating to this because the sensationalized reports at the time were written in very misleading ways. Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle wrote a more accurate and nuanced account of what really happened with Green-Johnson.

If you watched the play in real time, Johnson never stopped and stood over Green taunting him. The still picture of Travis Johnson being angry at an immobile Green make it look like he was standing over him, but if you watch the video, he was really walking back to the bench.

And clearly, Johnson's angry, inaccurate Wizard of Oz blast at Green after the game wasn't particularly advisable and he apologized for it. Ironically, it was a rant about how dirty and cowardly Green's block was. Not smart to trash a guy who you know suffered a concussion, but it doesn't mean Johnson is a dirty player.

In sum, I think Sando repeatedly using Johnson as an example of dirty play is a bit misplaced, and Harrison's comment in the dirty players piece pretty much sums things up:

"Sometimes reputation precedes people, and unfairly at times."

I don't expect anyone at ESPN to correct the misleading impression in that article that Johnson knocked Green out, wanted to hurt him, and then stood over him while taunting him. Once something wrong about your reputation is on the internet, it is hard to correct it.

Previously at FanHouse:
On Demons and Saints: A Story About Travis Johnson and Media Hype
Did Trent Green Injure Travis Johnson?