Despite the best efforts of starting right guard Richie Incognito, the Rams walked out of Washington with their first win of the season yesterday.
In case you missed the game, the Rams drove the length of the field with time ticking down in the fourth quarter, putting themselves in position for a 35-yard Josh Brown field goal. After a Steven Jackson run centered the ball between the uprights, the Rams called a timeout. That's when Incognito decided to use the free time to talk trash and get into a fight, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that pushed the field goal back to a dicey 50-yarder. Fortunately Brown, the Rams’ only big name free agent off-season pickup, nailed it. Incognito was off the hook, sort of.
The inexcusable penalty wasn't Incognito's first blunder of the game (or his career).
Haslet mouthed very clearly: "What is wrong with this motherfucker?"
Incognito’s problems go back farther than just yesterday. After becoming the first freshman to ever start on Nebraska’s offensive line, he was kicked off of the team and out of the school when a fight at a party resulted in assault charges. It was the culmination of several incidents that season.
Incognito was then given a second chance at the University of Oregon, but was again booted out of school for behavior problems before he ever played a single down.
When he was drafted by the Rams in the third round of the 2005 draft, Incognito held out for a large signing bonus despite the fact that he hadn't suited up for a football game in more than two years. He then used the signing bonus to buy 2006 BMW 750, in which he had 22 TV screens installed. Twenty-two.
All sounds like exactly the right person and attitude you'd like on a team that's trying to turn its season around, no?
If he ever wants to get out of Haslett’s doghouse, Incognito better start living up to his name for the first time in his life.
