Tweet
Rams' Richie Incognito: "I'm a marked man"
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/18/2009
As popular as Richie Incognito is in the Rams' locker room, where he's venerated as a staunch defender of his teammates, he's equally ostracized around the NFL, where he's regarded by some of his adversaries as an unscrupulous hothead.
After Incognito was whistled for four penalties, including two personal fouls, in a 2007 game against Arizona, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said the NFL "is going to have to do something about (Incognito), because one day he's going to really injure somebody's career. The guy was trying to hurt some of our guys."
Last year, Seattle linebacker Leroy Hill noted that there are "just a few in the league who take cheap shots, go low at you when they're not supposed to go low, like when you're not looking. … He's one of them."
As a result:
— Opponents do what they can to get under Incognito's skin, trying to elicit a reaction.
"One of the fundamentals of the game is trying to exploit someone else's weaknesses," said CBS analyst Dan Dierdorf, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman with the old St. Louis Cardinals. "You realize where another guy is flawed and how to take advantage of that."
— Officials constantly keep a close eye on Incognito for any indiscretion.
"I know when I'm going out there Sundays I'm being watched," said the 6-foot-3, 324-pound Incognito, the Rams' right guard. "I'm a marked man."
Incognito, 26, said in the spring that he dedicated the offseason to trying to scrape away that reputation. "Just growing, being a more mature football player and eliminating the penalties," he said. "That's really the emphasis for me."
Yet Incognito already has re-ignited the furor by drawing two personal-foul calls in the Rams' 28-0 season-opening loss at Seattle.
Angry fans on sports-talk shows and Internet forums have called for his release, arguing that enough is enough. But first-year head coach Steve Spagnuolo is standing up for his man.
"I trust Richie — I like his passion," Spagnuolo said. "When the passion leads to penalties, that's not a good thing. But I'd rather have that problem than trying to motivate the guys to love the game of football."
'I PLAY WITH PASSION'
No one questions Incognito's love for football. "I care a lot about the game," he said. "I play with passion. I play with fire. And I play to win."
He's been doing so since he was a youngster in Glendale, Ariz. At Mountain Ridge High he developed into one of the nation's most sought-after linemen.
He chose Nebraska and quickly earned a first-team job at left tackle. Incognito became the first Cornhuskers offensive lineman ever to start the season-opener his freshman year.
But trouble was brewing: Incognito was ejected from a game that year for fighting. The following spring, Huskers coach Frank Solich suspended him. The reason was unspecified, but it reportedly resulted from several indiscretions.
After earning reinstatement, Incognito had a big 2003 season, earning All-Big 12 Conference honors. But by February 2004, he was in hot water again, charged with three counts of assault stemming from a fight at a party. He was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge and paid a $500 fine.
When he was suspended indefinitely "for repeated violations of team policy" by new Nebraska coach Bill Callahan just before the start of the '04 season, Incognito left, planning to transfer to Oregon.
But Ducks coach Mike Bellotti rebuffed him, so Incognito sat out what would've been his junior season and awaited the '05 NFL Draft.
'I LOSE MY COOL'
The Rams selected Incognito in the third round, coach Mike Martz saying that he liked the "toughness he brings to the offensive line."
The problems occur when Incognito's toughness crosses the line.
"You have to play with emotion, but there are times when you've got to take a shot from somebody and walk away from it," Rams offensive lineman Mark Setterstrom said. "That's not easy to do. You just have to know how to control that."
Added Dierdorf: "It's just discipline; that's all it is."
Incognito has committed 27 penalties in 36 NFL games, moving the Rams back 254 yards. Seven were personal fouls, most of them post-whistle violations, and several have come at inopportune times, costing the Rams dearly.
Anger isn't the culprit, Incognito insists. Sometimes, as he explained, the "juices get flowing" and "I lose my cool."
It's not an unusual reaction, said Dr. Shana Alexander, a sports psychology professional in Lake Forest, Calif., who counsels a number of professional athletes.
Alexander explained that she tries to get players with such issues to "recognize that only they have control over their emotions. … How you think is going to determine how you behave. First, they have to recognize negative thoughts, and then I help them challenge them. Once you identify them and challenge them regularly, the behavior starts to change."
Incognito assured that he realizes his behavior needs to change.
"I'm disappointed in myself and disappointed that I let my teammates down" in Seattle, he said. "It's not a feeling that I like to have."
'CARRYING THE BURDEN'
Incognito's ability generally isn't questioned. "I don't think he's destined for Canton," site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Dierdorf said. "But he's plenty good enough to play in this league. All those skills are there. I can see why Spagnuolo is trying to save him."
Jim Hanifan, who coached scores of offensive linemen during more than three decades in the NFL, called Incognito "a valuable and integral part of this football team — if he can be channeled properly.
"You just hope that the young man will mature and realize that you just cannot get into those situations … where you hurt your football team. That's the bottom line."
Said left guard Jacob Bell: "He knows that was his one slip-up for the year. He can't be doing it anymore. He knows how it affected us. It's hard to win when you're doing stuff like that."
And nobody, Incognito stressed, wants to win more than he does.
"The losing around here … there's been a lot of negativity surrounding what we do," he said. "We put a lot of time and effort in, and we care about what we do. So to go out there and have it go the way it's gone, it's just not fun."
Winning is fun, and Incognito said he wants to have some, starting Sunday at Washington. He's also eager to re-start the effort to muzzle his conduct after "carrying the burden" of his actions at Seattle throughout the week.
"You look at the positives of the situation, and there really are none," he said. "It has to stop. That's it."
By Bill Coats
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/18/2009
As popular as Richie Incognito is in the Rams' locker room, where he's venerated as a staunch defender of his teammates, he's equally ostracized around the NFL, where he's regarded by some of his adversaries as an unscrupulous hothead.
After Incognito was whistled for four penalties, including two personal fouls, in a 2007 game against Arizona, Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said the NFL "is going to have to do something about (Incognito), because one day he's going to really injure somebody's career. The guy was trying to hurt some of our guys."
Last year, Seattle linebacker Leroy Hill noted that there are "just a few in the league who take cheap shots, go low at you when they're not supposed to go low, like when you're not looking. … He's one of them."
As a result:
— Opponents do what they can to get under Incognito's skin, trying to elicit a reaction.
"One of the fundamentals of the game is trying to exploit someone else's weaknesses," said CBS analyst Dan Dierdorf, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman with the old St. Louis Cardinals. "You realize where another guy is flawed and how to take advantage of that."
— Officials constantly keep a close eye on Incognito for any indiscretion.
"I know when I'm going out there Sundays I'm being watched," said the 6-foot-3, 324-pound Incognito, the Rams' right guard. "I'm a marked man."
Incognito, 26, said in the spring that he dedicated the offseason to trying to scrape away that reputation. "Just growing, being a more mature football player and eliminating the penalties," he said. "That's really the emphasis for me."
Yet Incognito already has re-ignited the furor by drawing two personal-foul calls in the Rams' 28-0 season-opening loss at Seattle.
Angry fans on sports-talk shows and Internet forums have called for his release, arguing that enough is enough. But first-year head coach Steve Spagnuolo is standing up for his man.
"I trust Richie — I like his passion," Spagnuolo said. "When the passion leads to penalties, that's not a good thing. But I'd rather have that problem than trying to motivate the guys to love the game of football."
'I PLAY WITH PASSION'
No one questions Incognito's love for football. "I care a lot about the game," he said. "I play with passion. I play with fire. And I play to win."
He's been doing so since he was a youngster in Glendale, Ariz. At Mountain Ridge High he developed into one of the nation's most sought-after linemen.
He chose Nebraska and quickly earned a first-team job at left tackle. Incognito became the first Cornhuskers offensive lineman ever to start the season-opener his freshman year.
But trouble was brewing: Incognito was ejected from a game that year for fighting. The following spring, Huskers coach Frank Solich suspended him. The reason was unspecified, but it reportedly resulted from several indiscretions.
After earning reinstatement, Incognito had a big 2003 season, earning All-Big 12 Conference honors. But by February 2004, he was in hot water again, charged with three counts of assault stemming from a fight at a party. He was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge and paid a $500 fine.
When he was suspended indefinitely "for repeated violations of team policy" by new Nebraska coach Bill Callahan just before the start of the '04 season, Incognito left, planning to transfer to Oregon.
But Ducks coach Mike Bellotti rebuffed him, so Incognito sat out what would've been his junior season and awaited the '05 NFL Draft.
'I LOSE MY COOL'
The Rams selected Incognito in the third round, coach Mike Martz saying that he liked the "toughness he brings to the offensive line."
The problems occur when Incognito's toughness crosses the line.
"You have to play with emotion, but there are times when you've got to take a shot from somebody and walk away from it," Rams offensive lineman Mark Setterstrom said. "That's not easy to do. You just have to know how to control that."
Added Dierdorf: "It's just discipline; that's all it is."
Incognito has committed 27 penalties in 36 NFL games, moving the Rams back 254 yards. Seven were personal fouls, most of them post-whistle violations, and several have come at inopportune times, costing the Rams dearly.
Anger isn't the culprit, Incognito insists. Sometimes, as he explained, the "juices get flowing" and "I lose my cool."
It's not an unusual reaction, said Dr. Shana Alexander, a sports psychology professional in Lake Forest, Calif., who counsels a number of professional athletes.
Alexander explained that she tries to get players with such issues to "recognize that only they have control over their emotions. … How you think is going to determine how you behave. First, they have to recognize negative thoughts, and then I help them challenge them. Once you identify them and challenge them regularly, the behavior starts to change."
Incognito assured that he realizes his behavior needs to change.
"I'm disappointed in myself and disappointed that I let my teammates down" in Seattle, he said. "It's not a feeling that I like to have."
'CARRYING THE BURDEN'
Incognito's ability generally isn't questioned. "I don't think he's destined for Canton," site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Dierdorf said. "But he's plenty good enough to play in this league. All those skills are there. I can see why Spagnuolo is trying to save him."
Jim Hanifan, who coached scores of offensive linemen during more than three decades in the NFL, called Incognito "a valuable and integral part of this football team — if he can be channeled properly.
"You just hope that the young man will mature and realize that you just cannot get into those situations … where you hurt your football team. That's the bottom line."
Said left guard Jacob Bell: "He knows that was his one slip-up for the year. He can't be doing it anymore. He knows how it affected us. It's hard to win when you're doing stuff like that."
And nobody, Incognito stressed, wants to win more than he does.
"The losing around here … there's been a lot of negativity surrounding what we do," he said. "We put a lot of time and effort in, and we care about what we do. So to go out there and have it go the way it's gone, it's just not fun."
Winning is fun, and Incognito said he wants to have some, starting Sunday at Washington. He's also eager to re-start the effort to muzzle his conduct after "carrying the burden" of his actions at Seattle throughout the week.
"You look at the positives of the situation, and there really are none," he said. "It has to stop. That's it."
Comment