Former Dolphins tackle Lydon Murtha has written a column for TheMMQB.com regarding the things he witnessed and the things he believed regarding the relationship between Dolphins guard Richie Incognito and Dolphins tackle Jonathan Martin. Characterized as a first-person account, it’s clear there are several key aspects on which Murtha wouldn’t have had first-hand information.
And so the biggest question becomes, on those points, where did he get the information?
Indeed, Murtha’s factual perspective is limited. He played for the Dolphins through August 31, 2012, which means that he observed the interactions between Incognito and Martin only through the 2012 offseason program (following Martin’s arrival via the draft), training camp, and the preseason.
Murtha says, presumably based on his experiences, that Martin didn’t “seem to want to be one of the group,” and that he “came off as standoffish and shy” to the rest of the lineman. Murtha says that Martin “couldn’t look anyone in the eye, which was puzzling for a football player at this level on a team full of grown-ass men.”
Fair translation? The “grown-ass men” in the locker room viewed Martin as different, as not tough, and ultimately as soft. Which meshes with the notion that, instead of accepting Martin for who he is, players (and possibly coaches) wanted to make Martin more like them.
In insisting that Incognito didn’t bully Martin, Murtha claims that everyone gave Martin a hard time: “Other players said the same things Incognito said to Martin, so you’d need to suspend the whole team if you suspend Incognito.”
That could be good for Incognito, but bad for the Dolphins.
The bigger problem with Murtha’s proclamation that Incognito didn’t bully Martin is that Murtha seems to be applying his own interpretation of what “bullying” is. To support his position, Murtha writes that Martin was never singled out or treated differently or excluded.
At the same time, Murtha never really addresses the question of whether the verbal interactions between Incognito and Martin crossed the line. Murtha comes close, pointing out that he knows “when a guy can’t handle razzing” and that “Incognito doesn’t have that filter,” but Murtha never comments on whether Incognito exposed Martin to “razzing” that Martin may not have been able to handle.
The column then careens off the rails when Murtha in his supposed first-person account starts to offer conjecture about things he didn’t actually experience. For example, Murtha declares the voice message sent earlier this year from Incognito to Martin -- months after Murtha was cut -- “came from a place of humor.”
How can Murtha possibly know that as part of a first-person account? The more accurate explanation is that someone else (possibly Incognito) told this to Murtha.
Murtha also disputes the suggestion that Incognito improperly squeezed $15,000 out of Martin to pay for a trip to Las Vegas with no facts, and no proof. Per multiple league and media sources, the trip happened in 2013. Murtha was long gone by then, and yet Murtha uses his first-person account to create the impression that he has conclusive first-hand evidence of what happened.
He doesn’t. Anything he said about it came from someone else. Possibly Incognito.
And that’s where the column gets very interesting, but for reasons Murtha likely didn’t intend. If, as it appears, someone else is funneling information to Murtha, someone else may have funneled this information, too: “Incognito was made a scapegoat for the hell coming down on the Dolphins organization, which in turn said it knew nothing about any so-called hazing. That’s the most outlandish lie of this whole thing. The coaches know everything. The coaches know who’s getting picked on and in many cases call for that player to be singled out. Any type of denial on that side is ridiculous.”
If Murtha is getting that information from Incognito, get ready for Incognito to officially claim that he was merely doing what he thought he was supposed to do as a team leader, and that management either told him to do it or at a minimum knew he was doing it.
That could be good for Incognito, but bad for the Dolphins.