OT: Dolphins/Martin/Incognito Scandal

[Boltdog]

I've discussed the Whitlock article with a few friends who are black, and they feel the same way as Whitlock on this. And that is coming from guys who grew up in Inglewood and the Crenshaw district, and played college ball.

Incognito is an egotistical buffoon (apparently just bought a 165K Ferrari this past week to show off his lifestyle) who seems a lot like Bill Romonowski, relishing his psycho-bad boy image and probably enabled by hypocrites in the MIA organization--Like Philbin and the GM who pretended to know nothing about Martin's issues when they actually initiated this chain of events.

Some former NFL stars have questioned the level of leadership in the Dolphins locker room: You have a lot of young starters in MIA to include a 2nd year QB, who are just focused on learning their assignments. Martin may be done for being a "snitch", and talentwise he doesn't appear worth the hassle for other teams to bring in. Seems like another Kwame Harris.

Except-- Did Harbaugh maybe recruit Martin when he was still at Stanford? Harbs might take a flyer on the guy at some point, who performed well enough in a hard-hitting Cardinal offense for two of the best coaching staffs in college ball. Otherwise the Players Assoc. might just hire Martin some day to work on NFL hazing issues...

[Bolt-O]

Football question here... If Jon Martin came available, would he be a good fit on the Chargers? The Dolphin line has sucked all season, and they had to bring in McKinney as a stop gap. We've seen what decent coaching and a new scheme has done with our guys, and even if its still a work in progress, it has upside, especially if they can anchor OLT for years to come. I'm not sure if Dunlap is the long term answer, and may have concussion issues that are career limiting, as well as his below standard run blocking.

[oneinchpunch]

Martin is not good. 2012 Mike Harris might be better

[Bolt-O]

But is Martin's play due to the situation, or that he's not talented enough to play in the NFL? I know he sucked, but is he reclaimable?

[Coachmarkos]

Whitlock's take is very, very, interesting.

I don't always like his racial tone toward everything...and he does tend to push a racial tone into everything, this was the perfect opportunity to do it.

[floydefisher]

i personally think incognito needs a little of this...

other than that, i think a coach and gm are about to get FIRED.

[floydefisher]

But is Martin's play due to the situation, or that he's not talented enough to play in the NFL? I know he sucked, but is he reclaimable?

Why not give him a try....who knows what you might find?

[Antonio's Gates]

good article by whitlock for a change

[QSmokey]

good article by whitlock for a change

I tend to agree with Coach on this one: Whitlock likes to bring deep social (i.e. racial and other) issues into his writing. He comes off as obnoxious to me; always has. I mean, this is FOOTBALL; what the hell do you expect from a bunch of (mostly) immature, overpaid, irresponsible nincompoops? These are not paragons of virtue we're talking about here. The locker room stuff; the "code of conduct"; handling things "in house". Many of these guys are just brutes, who probably wouldn't have had much of a chance to make it in this world with a REAL job if they had to. Guys who scored single digits on the Wunderlic, a test that Kodi could score a 20 on.

And we're surprised that one of them used the 'n' word? Berated one of his teammates? Talk a bunch of ignorant $hit to (and about) him?

Whitlock comes off as a guy who seems to think he's the social conscience of the NFL. Just a wannabe writer, IMO.

[Big Dog]

other than that, i think a coach and gm are about to get FIRED.

Oh no, an assistant coach is going to take the fall ... for this code red ...

[Boltjolt]

Football question here... If Jon Martin came available, would he be a good fit on the Chargers? The Dolphin line has sucked all season, and they had to bring in McKinney as a stop gap. We've seen what decent coaching and a new scheme has done with our guys, and even if its still a work in progress, it has upside, especially if they can anchor OLT for years to come. I'm not sure if Dunlap is the long term answer, and may have concussion issues that are career limiting, as well as his below standard run blocking.

No, he sounds like a soft pussy. You dont need guys on the OL who have no mean streak. He is probably in this game for the money and thats it.

[RTPbolt]

This is a tough situation. You have polar opposites that collided. I get Martin's issue...why should he undergo this type of behavior when in any other profession he would be perfectly justified and Incognito would be tossed repeatedly until he ends up as a used car salesman or starting his own business where he can harrass his own employees and get sued by women for sexual harrassment.

It may be Martin is done in the modern NFL as im not sure any team will want to deal with the polarity charged nature he will bring. I aplaud him for taking a stance even though it was probably not viewed as the locker room proper way to do it....but thats the core issue of Martin not likely being able to withstand a presence like Incognito in the first place. I think he has every right to go after the NFL and Miami heck even Incognito for the situation and would likely win. I think its probably time the NFL and all other sports take note they need to really think through the implications of player behavior and its affect on the quality of their product. Being a little more cognitive of this whole issue imo is a good thing for the NFL....if they care about off field image this should be right up there.

What do you do about Incognito. Well he still would be socially accepted in the NFL locker room. Its more of an issue of the ownership and coaching deciding if he can be corrected to walk a tighter line and not become a lawsuit and PR risk. Ive seen managers with major anger issues get tossed. Ive seen people with anger management issues get treated and learn from their mistakes. The key will be whether Incognito even is smart enough and wise enough to understand he crossed the line in decent human behavior from the sound of it and is willing to truthfully apologize to his team and Miami fans and change his asshat ways....then do it. Given a few long time NFL character asshats we've seen that got away with their behavior and felt justified its hard to say what Incognito will be willing to do to keep the only job in the world that would let him behave this way outside of WWF perhaps.