Friday, February 14, 2014

Stephen Ross: Obviously, the report is deeply disturbing


When the report about bullying on the Dolphins was released on Friday morning, owner Stephen Ross asked for time to review the matter. Now Ross has reviewed the matter, and he acknowledges that his franchise looks bad.
“I now have had a chance to read the report and obviously, the language that was used and the behavior as described is deeply disturbing,” Ross said in a statement released on Friday evening. “Although the report commended Joe Philbin’s commitment to promoting integrity and accountability throughout the Dolphins organization, I told Ted Wells personally during my visit with him that we are committed to addressing the issues outlined in this report. We must work together towards a culture of civility and mutual respect for one another. It is important to me, important to Coach Philbin and important to the entire Dolphins organization.”
Ross’s lengthy statement, however, is short on specifics about how he feels about the individuals named in the report. In fact, Ross’s statement says nothing at all about Jonathan Martin, the player who left the team last season because of harassment from his teammates. Ross’s statement also says nothing at all about Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey or John Jerry, the three players the report cites as abusing Martin, another unnamed player and a team trainer. And Ross’s statement says nothing about offensive line coach Jim Turner, who looks very bad in the report.
So while Ross says in his statement that “I have made it clear to everyone within our organization that this situation must never happen again,” Ross doesn’t say whether “everyone within our organization” will continue to include some of the people who mistreated Martin.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo: Lynne Sladky, AP



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