The Miami Dolphins won an exciting game on Thursday night football against the Cincinnati Bengals and they did it without starting offensive lineman Jonathan Martin, who left the team this week to deal with an emotional issue after players on the team reportedly bullied and pranked him.
Martin left the team earlier in the week after an "incident" that happened in the lunch room with some of the other players on the team and he was inactive for the game against the Bengals after leaving. According to ESPN.com, Martin is getting professional assistance for his problems and that he is dealing with emotional issues that have been building up and it reportedly blew up for him after some teammates pulled a prank on him earlier in the week.
According to ESPN.com, teammates were "ribbing" and pranking Martin in the lunch room on Monday and that sparked him to slam down his lunch tray and then leave the team facility and not return. The team said that he is dealing with an emotional issue and Fox Sports has reported that teammates have continued to tease and bully Martin repeatedly this season for whatever reason. Teammates said to ESPN.com after the win over the Bengals on Thursday that they supported Martin and the coaching staff said the same thing when asked about his status.
Tyson Clabo started in place of Martin for the game on Thursday and Pro Football Talk reported that the team and locker room was an "abusive environment" for Martin to deal with and that things became "person" at times, including "family insults" from other players and teammates that "went well beyond the customary hazing." The news is bad for the Dolphins, as Martin was starting on the line, but it also highlights other issues within the NFL.
Fox Sports reported on the bullying and the report says that he could end up being placed on the reserve/non-football injury list and he also could end up off the team eventually after being a second round pick out of Stanford last season. The report says teammates called him "Big Weirdo" as a nickname and that they continued to bully him about personal issues and hit family and some actions were seen last year on the HBO show Hard Knocks and clearly Miami doesn't want to talk about it, because they probably knew about it and didn't help Martin with his issues with teammates.
"Obviously, we care about J-Mart a lot; we just want him to be all right," said Dolphins right tackle Tyson Clabo. "I want him to come back to work. He's a talented, young football player. I can't say what he's feeling. But I know if and when he wants to come back, I will be there to shake his hand."
