Richie Incognito held offensive line meetings at strip club: Report

Richie Incognito has been suspended indefinitely by the Miami Dolphins, presumably for his alleged role in bullying left tackle Jonathan Martin, who left the team last week and is currently in California seeking counseling. While the NFL investigates the matter, new details of the left guard's antics continue to pile up.

The latest accusation against Incognito, according to NationalFootballPost.com's Jason Cole, is he would regularly hold meetings for the offensive line at a South Florida strip club and would "fine" teammates if they didn't show up.

“Richie wanted to set up Richie's world as a way for everybody to act,” a team source told Cole. “Richie thinks everybody should act that way. He doesn't get that some guys aren't into that behavior. Some guys don't want to constantly explain to their wife or girlfriend why they have to go to a strip club.”
And if players didn't go? Incognito would mock them for not being part of the group, Cole wrote.

On Thursday, Cam Cleeland, who was a tight end with the Rams when Incognito was drafted, said this about his former teammate.

"I'm not afraid to say that he was an immature, unrealistic scumbag," Cleeland told the Los Angeles Times. "When it came down to it, he had no personality, he was a locker-room cancer, and he just wanted to fight everybody all the time. It was bizarre beyond belief."

Although Incognito's Miami teammates came to his defense this week and he is expected to file a grievance against the team for losing his $235,294.12 weekly salary, the new details into his behavior don't help his case.

Martin, meanwhile, has hired high-powered attorney David Cornwall, who alleged Thursday night that his client was the victim of verbal abuse in the Dolphins' locker room.

On Thursday, Dolphins coach Joe Philbin told the media, "I think we have a strong group of men in the locker room. I believe we had one before this occurred. And I believe we'll have one after."

Just bring lots of dollar bills.

Dolphins 'icing' timeout backfires against the Jets

Hopefully Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin's decision to "ice" the kicker at the last second will be a lesson to all coaches who plan on using a spare timeout to make an opposing kicker "think" about making a game-winning kick right before the snap.  But, after yesterday's strategy backfired, I still don't think it will stop anyone from using the annoying bush-league tactic.

Philbin tried it yesterday to devastating results when the New York Jets kicker Nick Folk was staring at a 33-yarder in overtime.  Philbin waited, then waited some more before calling the timeout — about a half-second before the Jets snapped the ball.  Too bad it was a second before the Dolphins' Randy Starks busted through the line and blocked the kick — which officially was not a play since Philbin had already formed a "T" with his hands — nullifying the play.

Folk's second attempt sailed through the uprights and gave the Jets an ugly 23-20 win with 6:04 left in OT.

Even if you aren't a Jets fan, you had to like the karma of the whole thing.

"I thought it was the right call," said Philbin, the rookie head coach. "I was planning it all along to call timeout right before he kicked the ball.  I really had no reaction whatsoever on that.  I knew that was the plan, that was the thing to do, and we did it."

The Jets themselves called an icing timeout five minutes earlier when Miami's kicker Dan Carpenter lined up for a game-winning 47-yarder and he missed.

The Dolphins looked dazed after they had — and blew — two chances to win the game in overtime.

"You never see that happen," said Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill.  "I've never even heard of that happening before.  It wasn't meant to be."

Hard Knocks continues for the Dolphins.

Dolphins' coach Joe Philbin is scared to see himself on 'Hard Knocks'

HBO's "Hard Knocks" might have thought the Miami Dolphins were the right team to showcase on the summer series about an NFL training camp, but it has been revealed that one of the show's anticipated stars, new head coach Joe Philbin, might be camera-shy.

Philbin said he has a history of skin cancer and is concerned that appearances on the series will show him with an embarrassingly swollen face.  The first year head coach said it is caused by not paying attention to the dosage for the cream he uses to treat it.

"I must have put on too much," said Philbin.  "The thing swelled up.  It looked like I got hit with five left-hooks right in my forehead," he told reporters last week.

"The point of the story is that I had to do a an HBO interview, so I've got this hat, I can't even put on it on. . . I've got this big scab hanging off my lip.  So it's on the thing."

You would think media-hog Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson (an off-season Dolphins pick-up) would be the center of the producer's attention, but it's Philbin's back story and challenges as a first year coach that have trained the camera's lens on their reluctant break-out star.

The quiet coach is not as profane or larger than life as 2010's big star, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, but Philbin brings his own kind of drama to the series.

Philbin is still getting over the pain of losing his 21-year old son to a drowning accident in a frozen river last winter and has the enormous challenge of taking over a losing team he has never coached.

Philbin said he does not plan to watch himself after seeing a small preview of the show HBO has been showing.

"I'm looking and I'm like ,'Oh, God''" Philbin said of his reaction.  :"Am I scared of me on TV, yeah."

"I'm not scared of the information or leakage or any of that kind of stuff," he said opposing teams might use against his squad.  "I'm not worried about that one bit, but I am worried about me."