Texans' coach gives Andre Johnson a game ball despite ejection



Andre Johnson(notes) did enough with the football in his hands to deserve a game ball on Sunday. It was what else he did with those hands that will make his postgame reward controversial.

The Houston Texans receiver was awarded a game ball from coach Gary Kubiak despite getting ejected during the game for engaging in a vicious fistfight with Tennesee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan(notes).[Watch the clip and read about the incident.] Kubiak insists he gave Johnson the ball because his nine catches for 56 yards and a touchdown put him over 60 catches for the eighth-straight season, but the coach also led with a joke about the fight and appeared to relish in his star receiver's scrape.
Texans owner Bob McNair said afterward that he awarded the fight to Johnson "on points" and the team's website even boasted about Johnson's exploits on Twitter.