AP

Dolphins guard Richie Incognito came in second place in a recent polls asking NFL player to name the dirtiest player in the league. He’s happy about that.

Incognito, who had a lighthearted reaction when we last noted that fellow players called him dirty, said he thinks that if opposing players think of him as a guy they have to watch out for on the field, that means he’s doing his job.

“I play the game the right way; I play a physical brand of football. I get after people, and there’s a fine line between dirty and physical,” Incognito told the Sun-Sentinel. “So it’s a badge of honor for an offenseive lineman to be up that high on the list. It definitely plays on defenders’ minds that this guy is going to get after you for four quarters.”

Incognito said he was surprised that he moved up from sixth place in last year’s “dirtiest player” poll to second place this year, but he joked on Twitter that he owes it all to his parents.

[tweet https://twitter.com/68INCOGNITO/status/266690429750222848%5D

“I’m having fun with it. I threw a thing out on Twitter [Thursday] night just thanking my parents,” Incognito said.

Opposing players have accused Incognito of being dirty often enough that there’s probably some fire with all that smoke. But Incognito is also correct that if opposing players hate playing against him, he’s probably doing something right.