NFL

Bart Scott rips ‘fake tough guy’ Incognito

Former Jets linebacker Bart Scott has strong words for Richie Incognito, the Miami Dolphins offensive lineman who was suspended indefinitely for “conduct detrimental to the team” stemming from alleged bullying of second-year offensive lineman Jonathan Martin.

“He’s a fake tough guy,” Scott said on ESPN Radio in New York on Monday. “He’s one of the dirtiest — if not the dirtiest — player I’ve ever played against.”

Scott recalled a 2007 incident with Incognito, when Scott was a Raven and the temperamental guard played for the Rams.

“After the game, he tried to shake my hand and I swung at him and he ran like the coward that he really is,” he said. “His coaches held him back, and my coaches came and realized what was going on. Like most bullies are when confronted by a real man, he didn’t want [any part] of it.”

Scott was upset the deficient leadership structure in the Miami locker room allowed Incognito to terrorize Martin.

“What disturbs me the most is that the veterans on that team weren’t strong enough to confront [Incognito],” he said. “You talk about a young man who had to go to work in fear and terror, and dreading going to what was supposedly place of peace. For the other guys on the offensive line to sit there and watch that are just as guilty as Incognito himself.”

Scott made a point of saying bullying can happen to anybody.

“When people think about bullying, they don’t think that a 350-pound guy can be bullied,” Scott said. “Anybody can be bullied or intimidated. It’s not about size. Everybody else is piling on him, so they must have a weak locker room.

“Richie is the ‘OG’ there. The only person that can talk to him and say ‘Hold up, young buck’ is probably Randy Starks [a defensive lineman who is a nine-year veteran]. Everybody else is younger. [Incognito is] the guy that they’re looking to be a leader. That’s bad when one of your oldest guys is one of the worst guys in the league. That would have never happened in Baltimore or New York.”

Scott thinks no matter how talented a player may be, there’s no place for him in the locker room if he’s a bad teammate.

“He wouldn’t have gotten away with anything,” he said. “We get guys like that out of our locker room. We don’t care about what he brings to the field, he’s not one of us. That’s supposed to be a sanctuary, those are supposed to be your brothers.

“In the locker room, we tease everybody, but it was nothing personal or directed to one person. If you did something silly in the offseason, we [brought] it up, we made fun of it, we teased you, and if you had enough, we stepped back.

“That’s what teammates do — tease and spend some time with each other. If you take it to the point where you’re harassing him on the phone, you must be some type of loser. To call me in your spare time when we’re away from the building and leave threatening messages on the phone — that takes bullying to another level.”

Scott said hazing is a gentle tradition for rookies.

“Things like hazing, where you have to bring in donuts, where they put peanuts in your car, we may make you pay for our meals, that happens for one year,” he said. “Jonathan Martin isn’t a rookie. I saw some of the reports about the big [food] bills the rookies get. That happens one time.”

Scott said the Dolphins are fortunate that Martin didn’t resort to violence to even the score.

“The Dolphins are lucky that it didn’t get to the point where some of these other people get bullied and bring a gun to work,” he said. “Thank God he just walked away.”

Scott’s strongest statement came when he said Incognito should be kicked out of the league.

“I want to see Roger Goodell step up and talk about player conduct and protecting the shield,” he said. “This guy needs to be out of this league. Nobody would miss him anyway, trust me.”