Darrell Green Fires Back At Asante Samuel, Who???

"If Asante Samuel walked up right now, I wouldn't know his face."

That's Darrell Green's reaction to Asante Samuel's recent criticism of his Hall of Fame resume ... and, yeah. OUCH!!!

Don't get it too twisted though ... DG says it's not exactly meant to be a slight to Samuel -- he tells us it just means he's not taking the former New England Patriots cornerback's comments to heart.

"Truthfully," Green told us, "I don't think I've ever met him. I don't know his face if he walked up."

If you missed it ... in order to boost his own Hall of Fame resume, Asante went after Darrell on Twitter earlier this month, calling out his career stats.

"With all do respect can someone explain to me why Darrell Green is considered a great?" Samuel wrote. "He played 19 years and was mostly a nickel back. 54 INT's in 19 years. Talk to me????"

Asante was blasted by many over the tweet -- with Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy essentially telling the guy to do some research.

"Darrell Green played on the outside, not as a nickel," Dungy said. "He traveled with the best receiver and was a TOP ECHELON CB for almost 2 decades!!"

Green tells us he appreciated Dungy coming to his defense ... but added he believes his career numbers more than speak for themselves.

"There's enough information if he really wanted to know that he could have found," Green said.

FYI -- Green played 20 years for Washington and won 2 Super Bowls and made 7 Pro Bowls before he was inducted into Canton in 2008.

Still, Darrell tried his best to take the high road with Samuel ... adding, "I hope he gets in the Hall of Fame."