TBH I didnt read past the first couple paragraphs so maybe this gets addressed in the article, but wouldnt the Dolphins' players reaction just tell us how common this type of thing is in the NFL? It isnt like we have a bunch of guys who are on their first NFL team ever.

And maybe another point that may have been addressed in the article is maybe that it was completely exclusive to the offensive line? How much did Tanny, Wake, Wallace, Jones, Grimes, and Ellerbe know about the actual hazing process of the offensive line? If they didnt know just how deep it is that would explain a lot about why Philbin was in the dark about all this too.

 

Anyone that has played any sport at a high level knows the locker room is a place like no other on earth.
And that is not an over-exaggeration.

 

sounds like a good article from the bit you posted and it raises good questions. i honestly think incognito and his mafia ran wild because everyone else was scared of that clique too. they saw the coaches didnt give a shyt, so why should they.

 

The poetic justice here is that Incognito is actually innocent of the charges alleged by Martin, which Wells lightly touched on by saying that the coaching staff (mainly Turner) encouraged the behavior. He should not be heavily punished but since he's such a piece of garbage from other events (like puling up a woman's skirt at a golf tournament and rubbing her crotch with a putter), his NFL career is over either way. Nobody will give him another chance, even though he probably deserves one.

On the flip side of things though, I can't feel sorry for Martin. Talking to a coach is not snitching...it's common sense. By his own admissions, he created this fiasco because he didn't know how to respond and was too shy to reach out for help. He also bullied others on the team though and that makes him just as guilty as his friend Ritchie. Sadly, that was probably his only friend on that team and he destroyed the guy's life in the process...all to avoid talking to someone who could have stopped this.

The worst part is, if Martin would have talked to Philbin, he probably would have said something like, "Cut this crap out...no more practical jokes. If I hear one more word about it, I swear I'll bench your asses next week." Just like that, this whole ridiculous circus would have ended.

 

you make it sound as if they just ran the building and no one had better get in their way, Hell be damned!! the truth is the majority of the incidences happened outside the facility at parties and get togethers, on the phone, texts and tweets. not to mention only since Philbin arrived this all just sprung up... some incidents happened within the building and they need to be looked into but mostly not. we keep digging and digging for more and more **** to be appalled at. things to throw at any supposed leadership including the owner. I keep waiting for the report from Joe McCarthy so I can feel better knowing that the NFL and more important the Dolphins are free and clear of all pinko Commies, those dirty bastards!!!

 

It's pretty clear what we need to make of it. That this problem with the Dolphins locker room doesn't remain just in the OL unit. It is pervasive throughout the entire organization and throughout the entire team. The fact that Garner tried to console JMartin as such by saying "I've been here 6 years and it's been rough" tells you that this isn't something that just happened.

The ONLY way you can believe that this is just "boys being boys" and that this is acceptable and common NFL locker room behavior is if you totally ignore the comments from other NFL players and coaches that say completely differently. From Keith Simms, to Mark Scherelth, to Tony Dungy, to Peyton Manning, etc.

If you think all of them are LYING. Current and recent past coaches and players saying that they had never witnessed or seen anything like this and that this would not be tolerated at all, if you think YOUR experiences in A high school locker room make you a better expert than them - fine.

But wow. Just wow.

This crap is unprecedented and that's pretty much agreed upon universally.

To defend this kind of behavior, excuse it, justify it, or say that you'd rather have meathead douchebag Incognito on your team than not, is a sad state of affairs.

There's a reason why the Detroit Lions are one of the most talented teams in the league, in every aspect of the game, yet they can't even manage a winning season.

HEY! LET'S DO MORE OF THAT! And LESS like the Broncos or Seahawks or 49ers or Patriots! YEAH!

Seriously? I get that some people want their favorite team to be the most ominous and intimidating.

All I want is for my team to actually win.

If you can do it by being ominous and intimidating? If that's who this team is going to be? Then FINE. Let's DO IT.

Let's embrace Incognito as a leader, let's applaud Pouncy and Jerry for being his two-bit hooligans, and let's make sure we get even more players like that on this team. Abuse women, get personal fouls, bully the weak in the locker room, let's have room for only the club wielding cavemen!

I'm all for that.... if you're going to go all in on that.

If you're going to half-*** it? Well, that just won't work, will it?

 

The Dolphins locker room is full of immature punks. The leaders in that place were Incognito, Pouncey. The coaches are weakling and lack leadership skills. That place is a mess.

I do not ever remember during Shula years, or Jimmy's years, or even Wanny or Saban years this kind of immaturity and stupidity. We've had great Olinemen in the past and none behaved this way.
The fact the team spoke in support of this tells us a lot about how filthy the Dolphins organization has become.

 

I don't know how you can support such a filthy team.

 

I'm not going to get into my background, but I will say that I've been in many locker rooms (both college and pro)...and not just in Miami. This is common, everyday behavior for overpaid men that aren't forced to grow up, and anyone who says differently is flat out lying to the camera. For example, Mario Chalmers of the Miami Heat takes crap from almost the entire team every day, yet its all in good fun and everyone knows that. You can go from sport to sport to sport and see almost identical behavior AND NOBODY is calling it harassment...they're calling it team bonding, practical jokes, hazing and/or just plain old having fun.

The difference in this one instance and every other locker room in the world is Johnathan Martin. If you read the Wells report, specifically some of the texts to his parents, he says that he's never stood up for himself- ever! Throughout high school and college, he even mentions people half his size bullying him and making him feel horrible. In his mind, there's something wrong with him and that's why he's never fit in. It's natural for people to hate him because of his strange personality, so he just went with the flow because he loves football. Again, these are his words, not mine (of course, I'm paraphrasing from memory though).

The problem here is that Martin is not a stable person and he needs medical help. I'm not defending the other players at all here, and I'm sure as hell not defending the coaches, but this issue stemmed primarily from Martin not being able to stand up for himself, talk to a coach about it, or do anything other than walking away. A normal athlete would have punched Ritchie in the mouth if he crossed the line, or did one of a hundred other things that could have made the teasing stop....but he did nothing for a year and a half. That's his own fault and it's pretty evident that he realizes it as well.

So getting back to your original statement, this type of stuff happens every single day in every single locker room across the country. There is no shock and awe story here...just a bunch of overpaid kids doing what they normally do.

 

Yeah... My attitude is, even if Richie didn't use the n word and people didn't use homophobic slurs, or any of that stuff the media cares about, if they just called him a punk, soft, etc., Martin is still quitting and feeling the way he does bc he has those issues anyway. He's not cut out for this, and the lockeroom IMO is just like the rest of the league and other leagues too.

 

A chain is only as good as its weakest link and in this case the weak link was Martin.If it hadnt been him someone else would have caused the chain reaction that will be forthcoming.
Society as a whole does not understand the lockeroom culture as it exists today .Maybe a lot of the things that occured in this scandal are commonplace throughout the NFL but from now on
the NFL will be scrutinizing this little known part of footbal.

The Incognitos of the NFL will become part of Dolphin ancient lore such as those antics of Wahoo Mc Daniel ,a really colorful character who was on the first Dolphin team who like to put alligators in players showers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahoo_McDaniel

 

Oh really and when Jason Taylor is on radio telling people how one defensive lineman would choke people at the drop of the hat in the locker room, what is that? Was that a dysfunctional locker room with mythical leaders such as Jason Taylor at the helm? I'm tired of this delusional ideal that people want to perpetuate of other situations and think that this doesn't go on.

 

I believe the feelings Martin has about the situation were legitimate. I think he genuinely feared reprisals for speaking out, so he devoted considerable effort into hiding how he really felt from the ENTIRE team. I also genuinely think Cogs and the rest genuinely thought Martin was one of them and they cared about and respected him and thanks to his ability to hide the truth, were blindsided by his outburst and leaving.

We want to find a scapegoat in all of this due to human nature. So some pick Cogs and others pick Martin. They both did things wrong and they both have reason to feel hurt.

Its ok to see that and accept that without taking sides.

Its also ok to not want Cogs on the team anymore for all this and especially the golf course thing.

Its ok to not want Martin on the team because he was weak and more importantly he wasn't very good.

Its ok to understand that sometimes these things happen and the coach doesn't have to be blamed because the circumstances were such that there's no real way for him to have known the depth of it, since Martin hid how he felt.

 

Only trouble is that our OL wasn't a chain -- interlinked pieces working together. They were 5 little islands that let pass rushers have the fast lane to Tannehill all season. I'll put a lot of that down to the shenanigans of Incognito, Poncey and Jerry.

Your analysis only has credibility if Martin was the only one on the line who failed to perform.

 

Can't be mentally weak; especially not in the NFL trenches.

If the behind the scenes Hard Knocks "big weirdo" quiet guy stuff was any indication, Martin was shook from day one.

 

Incognito didn't have anything to do with all but ending Incognito's career?

 

Just because something is commonplace doesn't mean it is right.