Bills’ Richie Incognito returning to Miami, wants to put past behind him

“No. That’s not me”, Clay said.

Incognito sat out all of last season in the wake of the incident.

Even though Incognito has always maintained his innocence, it is still a time in his life that he regrets, and the 32-year-old guard is now trying his best to look forward to a future during which he hopes to alter – through his play on the field and his behavior off – the legacy he will leave behind.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.-For Bills guard Richie Incognito this week’s game against the Dolphins is a return to Miami, where was a central figure in a bullying scandal that involved former teammate Jonathan Martin. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of friends in the organization. There’s been a lot of time taken for personal growth and a maturation process.

Once incriminating texts were made public, the Dolphins suspended Incognito indefinitely; he never played another down for Miami, and spent all of 2014 out of football before signing with the Bills in the offseason. It’s free to subscribe. “It’s one of those things where in professional sports you kind of cross paths with one of your old teams and you want to give it to them”. “Richie was a big brother to me when I came into the NFL“. “So we’ll see”. The league said Incognito’s conduct was detrimental to Martin and the club, but the ban was eventually lifted in February 2014. “He’s a great guy”.

Back in June, Bills coach Rex Ryan echoed many of these sentiments.

So far, the 2005 third round draft pick has been a model citizen in Buffalo.

“He has been absolutely tremendous”, said Ryan. They’ve got a quarterback they went up against who’s a Hall-of-Famer, who’s one of the most accurate in football, who’s a Ph.D. when it comes to getting them into all of the different protections, adjustments and hand signals and dealing with the crowd noise. “So it’s not odd to play against someone [who was a teammate]”.

“People may try to simulate that, but you’re not going against the same talent”, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach and CBS National Football League analyst Bill Cowher said.

Off-the-field distractions aside, it’s a big game for the Bills (1-1) as the team looks to bounce back from losing to another division rival in the Patriots (2-0) this past Sunday.

“He’s been a beast, a leader, a smart player; you can tell he’s a veteran”, said McCoy. “I’ve been really proud of him”. With his new found motivation, Tom is searching for the coveted fifth Lombardi trophy that would propel him past Terry Bradshaw and Tom’s boyhood hero, Joe Montana.

This defensive unit can get after the ball, and lock up the receivers at the line scrimmage and everyone knew that even before Rex arrived in Buffalo. “We’re going down to play an opponent, I don’t think I have to talk to Richie about it because I think he’s moved on in his life”. Especially since I’m so close to some of those guys and have been competing with them for so long.

“Let’s see if we have this conversation at the end of the year”, Ryan said with a stern expression.

Then all of a sudden, Incognito got his wish.

If New York can stay healthy on both sides of the ball I truly believe that they have what it takes to challenge New England for the AFC East crown and make a deep playoff run. “I’m juiced up. I’m amped up for every single game”.