We all know dirty play is commonplace in the NFL.  Players try to get any little advantage they can by throwing cheap shots during plays and after the whistle.  Most of the shots go unnoticed by the official, so we never hear about it.  However, I must admit I didn’t know things got that dirty.

Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, via Pro Football Talk, that Chiefs’ defensive lineman Shaun Smith grabbed his genitals during a play near the end of the first half of Sunday’s game.  The refs apparently missed it, but they flagged a fired-up Mack for unnecessary roughness shortly thereafter.  The penalty on Mack led to a missed field goal and the Browns went on to lose by two points.

“I don’t think he should be able to do that,” Mack said of the alleged dirty play.  “I’m still fired up about it.”

I’m not sure what’s worse — grabbing a guy’s balls during a play or gouging at someone’s eyes while they’re down.

Smith, on the other hand, responded to the accusation exactly the way you might expect.  “I don’t have no comment,” he said. “I don’t recall doing anything like that. I’m not known for being a dirty player or anything like that, so I don’t know what that was all about.”

Now, children.  Let’s try to play nice and keep your little boys out of it.