Dirtiest player in each franchise's history?

[BD Sullivan]

The Steelers had Keith Gary who in a 1983 MNF game against the Bengals, yanked Ken Anderson by the face mark, resulting in a neck injury. He then speared Turk Schonert, who had replaced him.

One typical mindset was that a guy was a dirty player--until he was on your team, which brings to mind Erich Barnes. When he was with the Giants, Browns fans thought he delivered cheap shots. After he was traded to Cleveland, he was "aggressive."

[Saban1]

The Steelers had Keith Gary who in a 1983 MNF game against the Bengals, yanked Ken Anderson by the face mark, resulting in a neck injury. He then speared Turk Schonert, who had replaced him.

One typical mindset was that a guy was a dirty player--until he was on your team, which brings to mind Erich Barnes. When he was with the Giants, Browns fans thought he delivered cheap shots. After he was traded to Cleveland, he was "aggressive."

Sort of in the same vein, Vince Costello was a good middle linebacker for Cleveland, and I never got the idea that he was dirty. In 1967, at the age of 35, Vince was traded to the Giants. In the Browns-Giants game in New York that year, Costello knocked both Leroy Kelly and Ernie Green out of the game with clothe line tackles. The Giants won 38 to 34 and Costello made a key interception in that game. I think that he had it in for Cleveland owner Art Modell, who had traded him rather than give him a $500 dollar raise.

I wonder if Vince Costello got the game ball from the Giants in that game? Anyone know?



That loss to the Giants in 1967 may have hurt the Browns more than just in the loss column. Coming off of that loss, Cleveland played well the next week against Pittsburgh winning 34 to 14. If they had beaten the Giants, then they probably wouldn't have been in the same frame of mind for the Steelers game. A team like Cleveland usually played better coming off of a loss, and wanted to make sure that they didn't lose a second straight game to a lesser team.

I think that the Browns of that time had a grudging admiration for the Green Bay Packers, and took pride in the fact that they had been playing the Packers tough recently. I think that they liked the fact that the Packers would be watching films of the Pittsburgh game when the Browns looked pretty good.

The next week, Cleveland played Green Bay, and probably felt pretty self satisfied coming off the Pittsburgh game. Green Bay, in the mean time, was coming off of a last minute loss to the Baltimore Colts. The game turned out to be a disaster for the Browns, as the Packer romped, 55 to 7.

If Cleveland had beaten the Giants, and played Pittsburgh about the way they played against the Giants, maybe they would have played a little better against Green Bay and maybe the game would have been closer. Then again, maybe the Browns would have been slaughtered anyway.

Cleveland ended up in the playoffs anyway, playing in a weak division (Century Division). So, you could say that the losses didn't really matter. However, the Cleveland Browns lost a lot of prestige by losing so badly to the Packers that day. The Browns considered themselves about equal to Green Bay until that game.

[RyanChristiansen]

For the Vikings, perhaps Robert Griffith. He was like the purple version of Rodney Harrison.

[bachslunch]

I’m surprised there aren’t more pre-1960s players listed. My impression was that play was especially rough during the NFLs early days, but I could be wrong. Certainly Hardy Brown and Bucko Kilroy (and Ed Sprinkle) had especially foul reputations and are great choices here.

Choosing a team for someone like Johnny Sample is also an interesting exercise. He played for four teams in his career, none for more than three years, and he was reportedly as dirty a player as there was. Picking him as a Jet might be done because that team had fewer options.

[Citizen]

The Bills were one team for whom I had trouble thinking of a good candidate off the cuff. I recalled that Merriman was mentioned in a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players as being among the league's dirtiest, but that might have been when he was with San Diego.

Earlier years certainly did have rougher (or dirtier, if you like) play by today's standards. But guys like Hardy Brown and Don Paul seemed to stand out even under that different standard.

[Ken Crippen]

The Bills were one team for whom I had trouble thinking of a good candidate off the cuff. I recalled that Merriman was mentioned in a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players as being among the league's dirtiest, but that might have been when he was with San Diego.

Dobler?

[Bryan]

Colts - Bill Pellington

Saints - Jon "Bountygate" Vilma

Tatum wasn't a dirty player, give me Atkinson or Dan Connors.

APBA player cards were always good for their nicknames, and Packers Charles Martin's nickname was "Too Mean". Ken Stills was a headhunter, too.

Every clip I see of Vikings' Dale Hackbart has some type of extracurricular activity.

One of the most blatant cheapshots that could have altered NFL history was Glanville goon Robert Pennywell taking out Roger Staubach in the 1978 NFC divisional playoff. Had Danny White not led a 2nd half comeback, we would have missed out on SB XIII Battle of the Champions.

The dirtiest team was IMO Glanville's Oilers. So many guys to choose from...Jeff Donaldson, Robert Lyles, Keith Bostic, Steve Brown, Johnny Meads, Eugene Seale...

[nicefellow31]

The Steelers had Keith Gary who in a 1983 MNF game against the Bengals, yanked Ken Anderson by the face mark, resulting in a neck injury. He then speared Turk Schonert, who had replaced him.

One typical mindset was that a guy was a dirty player--until he was on your team, which brings to mind Erich Barnes. When he was with the Giants, Browns fans thought he delivered cheap shots. After he was traded to Cleveland, he was "aggressive."

I recall Tommy McDonald talking about how Erich Barnes used to beat up on him. Nickname was the Gremlin.

[SixtiesFan]

I’m surprised there aren’t more pre-1960s players listed. My impression was that play was especially rough during the NFLs early days, but I could be wrong. Certainly Hardy Brown and Bucko Kilroy (and Ed Sprinkle) had especially foul reputations and are great choices here.

Choosing a team for someone like Johnny Sample is also an interesting exercise. He played for four teams in his career, none for more than three years, and he was reportedly as dirty a player as there was. Picking him as a Jet might be done because that team had fewer options.

In 1970, Johnny Sample put out a book titled "Confessions of a Dirty Ballplayer."

[BD Sullivan]

Both Larry Csonka (in SB 13) and McArthur Lane accused Vikings LB Wally Hilgenberg of some cheap shots.

While he didn't have the reputation of a dirty player, Carl Eller drilled John Hadl with a forearm to the mouth in a 1971 EXHIBITION game, which sparked a brawl.

Another player who had the "cheap shot" tag applied was Bill Bergey, who, as a Bengal, also delivered a forearm to Terry Bradsshaw in the last minutes of a 71 exhibition game. He later was accused of kicking the Dolphins' Howard Twilley in the back and also deliberately breaking the ribs of Terry Hanratty.

Don Maynard considered KC's Jim Marsalis a cheap shot artist, though it wasn't a universal opinion.

Interestingly, Joe Namath's career essentially ended with what he described as a cheap shot. He was forced to leave the game after Bears' linebacker Waymond Bryant hit him in the throat in the 1977 MNF game at Chicago. He never played again, though the shot wasn't the cause of that.