Not to be outdone

Wide receiver is becoming a chippier position than ever these days, so Terrell, Randy, Chad, even you, Joe Horn: you've got company. You may remember a Mr. Steve Smith, one of the blandly named talented Panthers (along with Stephen Davis). Here's him on Sunday's game against the Dolphins:

"[Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban] really needs to analyze which perennial corner he's going to have out there, because [Dolphins cornerback Sam Madison is] not one. That's it. I don't have nothing to say. I'm done. The bottom line is he's a punk. I won my war, and that's it. Don't ask me anymore."

Smith caught for 170 yards with 3 touchdowns, but his Panthers, a chic Super Bowl pick by many, find themselves 1-2 after losing to Miami, a team that was 4-12 a year ago. Some would call that winning the battle and losing the war, but hey.

UPDATE: There's more. When you're in the winners' locker room, you can get away with these things, but Madison elected to fire back. From the Sun-Sentinel comes this:

"I guess [Smith] hasn't read my resume," he said. "I'm rated No. 1 in trash talking the last few years. Once you start, we're pretty much going to go 60 minutes. I guess he thought we were going to play a 30-minute football game."

Madison spent so much time talking during that 60-minute game that he was unable to cover Smith. But, then again, catching for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns is no day at the beach either, a fact not lost on Madison:

"He was probably tired," Madison said. "He had his hand on his hip like a little girl in that heat. He was on the sideline crying."

I see, that was the Dolphins' strategy: let Steve Smith catch so many passes that he would wear himself out.