“That’s why I’m so confused with why this is all coming out on him and, you know, it’s almost like he’s [Incognito] a scapegoat. Yeah, he said something he shouldn’t have said. I don’t condone that whatsoever. But if there’s one man on that team who took Martin under his wing — I mean, he played next to him. … Every single time he had an issue, he’d go to Richie for it, and Richie would open-heartedly help him. He would encourage him. He would always be there for him. In meetings, they would talk and he would just help him out and show him what to do.”
“If there was one player that was there for him, it was Richie,” Murtha told Boomer and Carton. “Now was Richie hard on him? Yeah, he was hard on him. But he was hard on me — just as much if not more — and other players. (Martin) was never singled out as what is being portrayed, as he was singled out, bullied. If you really want to know, the truth is I was there. I’ve seen it. I was there for four months, breathing, living it every single day with these guys.”
He later added: “All the players know the truth. It depends on what they can tell you and what they can’t. Richie Incognito is an asset to that team, period.”
CBS New York adds:
Murtha said the much-discussed lunchroom prank on Martin, when his teammates all stood up when he sat down, has been pulled on “everybody” in the league — including coaches. Martin reportedly stormed out of Miami’s practice facility after the practical joke.
Incognito contacted Martin afterward, according to Murtha.
“Richie reached out to him and was like, ‘Are you OK? I mean, what happened? You just stormed out.’ And (Martin) said ‘It has nothing to do with you, don’t worry about it. Trust me. I need some alone time.’
“And then all of a sudden these messages come out of Richie’s voicemail and all of this other stuff. Like I said before, it’s so confusing why all of the sudden this message is being played that was done way in advance. They’ve joked about it before. It’s just saved on his phone and now all of the sudden (Martin is) bringing it out like it was just said.”
CBS...Lydon Murtha On WFAN: Incognito Took Martin Under His Wing
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