Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth is still hot about the scuffle that broke out during Sunday's convincing win over the Oakland Raiders.
Whitworth fully expects to be fined after he and Raiders defenders Tommy Kelly and Lamarr Houston were ejected for the fourth-quarter chaos. Money is one thing, but Whitworth is more irritated over Raiders players he says hit him and gouged his eyes during the melee.
"I'd hope there would be guys on their team that would address that, but it is what it is," Whitworth told The Associated Press. "You've got guys that want to make names for themselves and can't, and then they get frustrated. It's their opportunity to do something they feel and be tough, but that ain't tough. Face-to-face is tough.
"Most of those guys, they are what they are -- they're cowards. And if they really wanted to have an issue with you, they'd address you. But they obviously don't."
The fight started after Houston dropped Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to ground on a fourth-quarter play called dead for a false-start penalty. Whitworth then went after Houston and all hell broke loose. Whitworth said he found himself under a pile where Oakland players clawed at his eyes.
"I haven't watched the film," he said. "If I watch it, I'll go find those people, so I really don't want to know."
Dalton defended his lineman this week, saying he was thankful to have a player like Whitworth watching his back. The behemoth says he'd do it all over again.
"I would still confront the guy," Whitworth said. "And what I still believe -- and why I called those guys cowards -- is Lamarr Houston and I simply grabbed each other and were shoving, and that's all it would have been. But the other guys that jumped in and started swinging and throwing a bunch of punches and doing things to try to get ahold of us -- that were taking cheap shots on me -- that's what makes it a fight."
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.