Another win, another potential controversy bubbles up

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Entering two of the biggest weeks of their lives, the New England Patriots, the model franchise in perhaps all of sports, will have to deal with yet another question about their character: Is one of their key players dirty?

The following are the words of San Diego offensive lineman Nick Hardwick to a group of reporters following New England's victory over the Chargers. He was speaking of Patriots defensive end Richard Seymour.

"There are 10 f------ good players on that team," Hardwick said, referring to the New England defense. "But Richard Seymour is a dirty, cheap, little pompous (naughty word)."

Richard Seymour: Three-time Super Bowl champion, Pro Bowl defensive lineman ... dirty rotten scoundrel? (Getty Images)

"He's cheap and dirty and the head man just (lets) him get away with it the whole time," Hardwick said, as reported in The Boston Herald. "They've got 10 great players on that team and when Jarvis Green comes on the field, they've got 11 great players who compete how you're supposed to play. But Richard Seymour is the biggest (naughty word) I've ever played."

Hardwick went absolutely, positively nutso when describing Seymour, adding that Seymour always plays dirty but his dirtiness was raised to an entirely stratospheric level. Call it stratospherically dirty.

"Head slapping, foot stomping in the pile, running by and throwing punches in your back," Hardwick said. "He's a (naughty word). There were a lot of things he did. There's a field goal where he was stomping feet. Who stomps feet? And the officials weren't doing anything about it. He plays like a punk."

Wow. Just ... wow.

Those are some of the harshest words about a player -- from another player -- you will ever see.

Who does Seymour think the Patriots are? The Mean Machine?

(Scene from The Longest Yard that Seymour might like. It takes place as two characters talk while watching a crazy prisoner work out:

Caretaker: "Well, there he is. Connie Shokner, baddest cat in the joint. Even the guards are scared of him. He killed three people on the outside and two since he's been in here."
Crew: Yeah, that karate's some bad stuff.
Caretaker: Oh, that was before he learned karate.
Crew: Say, what's he doing now?
Caretaker: Nobody's ever had the guts to ask him.")

Richard Seymour is so nasty he makes Deacon Jones look like Hannah Montana.

In fairness to the Patriots, some of the Chargers players are hard to take. No, impossible to take. They are the biggest trash-talking crybabies in all of sports.