TAMPA — Oh, and by the way, the Dolphins have a game Monday night.
Miami is 4-4 and could use a victory over the winless Buccaneers to stay in the thick of a muddled AFC playoff race, but the Dolphins’ locker-room bullying controversy — which is only heating up, based on Sunday’s events — has rendered all of that an afterthought.
The alleged hazing of Jonathan Martin by Richie Incognito and other Miami players has so dominated the NFL headlines that even Greg Schiano and his 0-8 record are flying under the radar.
Thanks to the besieged Dolphins, Schiano’s crumbling Tampa Bay empire will likely be little more than a footnote when the two teams square off at Raymond James Stadium.
“We’re ready to go and hopefully try to change the narrative here,” Dolphins offensive tackle Tyson Clabo said Saturday amid another sea of cameras and microphones. “We’d like to get back to football.”
Good luck with that, considering the controversy only intensified Sunday when Incognito broke his silence in an interview with Fox Sports in which he lobbed accusations of his own against Martin.
So not only are Incognito and Martin continuing to snipe at each other through the media, but the Dolphins also are under the cloud of a formal NFL investigation that could cost GM Jeff Ireland and coach Joe Philbin their jobs if reports they ordered Incognito to “toughen up” Martin prove true.
No wonder the Dolphins sound like they can’t wait to play an actual game again, something they haven’t done since beating the Bengals, 22-20, on a safety in overtime on Oct. 31.
So much has happened off the field in the meantime that the victory over Cincinnati might as well have happen 11 years ago instead of 11 days, a fact that irritates the Miami players who had nothing to do with the controversy.
“We don’t hear anything about winning on a safety,” cornerback Brent Grimes said. “Instead, we just went right into this [bullying controversy]. The whole situation sucks, and I hope it ends soon.”
Of course, the Dolphins’ season hadn’t exactly been sailing smoothly before Martin walked out on them two weeks ago and lobbed bullying accusations against Incognito and others, engulfing the franchise in a raging firestorm in the process.
A free-agent spending spree appeared to pay off when Miami got off to a 3-0 start, including a road victory over the Colts, but they quickly cratered again with four consecutive losses — most of them ugly — before rebounding against the Bengals on Halloween night.
The Dolphins were drawing headlines for off-field woes even before Martin walked away.
Center Mike Pouncey, a college teammate of Aaron Hernandez’s who had worn a “Free Hernandez” hat after the Patriots tight end was arrested on murder charges, was subpoenaed in the hallway at Gillette Stadium after a loss to New England last month.
Pouncey reportedly is being questioned about his possible involvement in multi-state gun trafficking investigation tied to Hernandez.
The situation in Miami is a mess, and one made even worse by the fact a Dolphins offensive line that already was on pace to allow the most sacks in one season with Incognito and Martin is now reduced to inexperienced fill-ins at both their positions.
The Dolphins are still in the playoff race, but it might not stay that way for long.
“We have a game on Monday, and I can’t wait to play it,” defensive end Cameron Wake said. “We need to turn the page.”