I'm not a Pats fan with mounds of data, but I believe they've struck out a lot more times than not. One of the knocks against Belichick the last several years is that he has too much confidence in his ability to turn guys around and it's led to roster degradation.
If you honestly believe the "bad for business" concern with Martin is greater than with Incognito, I don't know what to say.
He didn't rat anyone out. By the time his representatives said anything, much of it was already out there from the internal reports leaking and both sides were going back and forth. Unless you think his job is to just tolerate anything and everything that's thrown at him, I'm not sure what he did wrong. He walked away and reported it to his team and his league. He didn't go to the media, he didn't go off on a rant, he didn't go nuts, etc. He stayed out of sight and avoided talking to anyone. This is where the poll I'm referencing comes into play. The NFL players seem to disagree with you. They were more OK with the guy that melted down and walked away than Incognito.
That's simply not true, he leaked the story to the press and they went crazy with it, either him personally or his agent was the source of the "internal reports" you are talking about. Him leaving the team was a minor story until it was leaked that "bullying" was the supposed reason for it and pretty much the first thing that came out was text messages from his phone.....who else could have been the source of that? As to It's his job to keep everything in house, he went outside of that by running away from the team like a child and he DID go to the media. The text messages that have finally been leaked by Incognito prove that the text messages that Martin chose to leak to the press were specifically chosen to put Incognito in the worst possible light, and he omitted his own text messages which were of the exact same nature showing it was banter rather than bullying, it was clearly a hatchet job. As to the poll, a small sample of NFL players in the early stages of this after only the hatchet job on Incognito was available isn't very valid in my opinion. Also, I'd be more interested in a poll of just O linemen, especially now that more of the story is out there, I don't care what a punter or defensive tackle thinks about the situation.
I'd be concerned about either. But despite Incognito's imfamy prior to this incident, the typical football fan had no idea who he was until this circus started. While Martin may not have started it directly, his "camp" did by bringing the media a wonderfully controversial story. I don't agree with keeping the wagons circled per se, but Martin is more Edward Snowden, while Incognito is like a dirty cop on paid-leave.
32 teams Let's say 10 OL per team which is more than most teams dress. 72 out of 320 is north of 20%, which is actually a pretty good sample size.
Belichick won a super bowl with Corey Dillon who was disgruntled in Cincinnati when Belichick traded for him. He also got to a super bowl with Randy Moss. He traded for Talib last year... You can complain about the process but can't complain about the results and he's usually always knocking on the door of the super bowl.
After watching Newton all year... No Texans player or fan would have a problem with Martin if he plays well. Same goes for Incognito. Performance can make up for many things.
That assumes that all of the players who were polled were O linemen, that's not the case. For all we know, none of those polled were O linemen which makes the poll largely irrelevant.
Newton was garbage, but just because he was terrible doesn't mean that the O line wants to welcome a mentally weak rat into their tight knit group.
Edward Snowden? LOL! Are you serious? I get that a lot of people don't like Martin and I have serious concerns too, but this is ridiculous. Edward Snowden. Oh brother.
Do you not see that parallel? Both are essentially traitors who felt justified in their actions. Another O line welcoming Martin into their squad would be the same as another intelligence agency hiring Snowden and trusting him with classified information.
Yes, offensive linemen are a close-knit group but I think your parallel is ludicrous and over-the-top. It actually hurts your point to reach that far. Edward Snowden plotted and then carried out a meticulously plan to injure the organization he worked for. If you believe Martin did anything like that, let's just agree to strongly agree. I think Martin is worth a look. Times are desperate and he may come cheap.
Given that he reported it to the Dolphins, the NFL, and NFLPA, all of those could have been the source. And yet, your own random thoughts on the culture of a locker room and the views of NFL Lineman is? I offered actual real data. You've offered unfounded conjecture.
Here is the text message log between both of them if anyone is interested. http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/ritojm1.pdf
I'd take Incognito. He's a total d-head, but using Roger Clemens and Charles Barkley (love that guy) as a template; he'd be OUR d-head.
Reading the texts between Martin and Incognito, it seems like this whole situation is on Martin. They seemed like close friends. Why did Martin release the texts? Maybe mommy (who is a workplace harassment lawyer might've been giving him some bad advice)
Why? Because he's a terrible teammate and a bad person. He got butthurt and he wanted to throw a temper tantrum about it and he didn't care who he hurt or what it did to the team.
