This past Sunday, when Bart Scott watched Pacman Jones rip Amari Cooper’s helmet off and then slam the rookie’s head into it, he couldn’t believe it.
Not because Jones did what he did, but because none of Cooper’s teammates came to his defense.
“This is how I know that this Raider team isn’t quite a Jack Del Rio team or quite yet a team ready to take the next step,” Scott said on CBS Sports Radio’s The DA Show. “Amari Cooper: young guy, nice guy. He doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. He doesn’t know the NFL. He’s learning what the NFL is all about: tough guys. If you talk tough, you got to walk tough, right? So Pacman Jones, known as a little tough guy, bit of a thug, had some issues off the field, rips his helmet off and takes my young rookie that I’m supposed to love and protect, the guy that’s brought in here to try and get us to the next level – (it’s the) equivalent (of) banging (Sidney) Crosby’s head against the glass.
“So if I’m a Raider and I see that happen to my young guy, I get up,” Scott continued. “And listen, I’m not talking tough, trust me. I walk it. I would have grabbed Adam by his dreads and banged his head into the ground and choked him out and wouldn’t care who came on that field. It should have been benches-cleared, all-out melee, and you just pay the fine. We call that the cost of doing business. If that would have been a Ravens team that I was a part of, Pacman would still be getting his butt beat.”
Del Rio, remember, was on staff when the Ravens won the Super Bowl with one of the most dominant defenses in history.
“Can you imagine that happening and (Tony) Siragusa is watching you bang one of his teammate’s heads against the ground?” Scott said. “Come on, man. Come on, man. We call that the cost of doing business. You got to protect your teammates. You send a message to everybody that you’re not going (to stand for that). Come on, man. You’re supposed to be the Oakland Raiders – the castoffs, the goons. Now the next team on tape (will think) they’re a little soft. So now people are going to mess with Amari Cooper. You got to nip that in the bud immediately.
“I’ll tell you what: You might not be able to win the game, but you can win the fight – and they lost the fight. If I’m Amari Cooper, I’m looking at my teammates a little different – like, where were you at? It should have been benches cleared, time to go to work, and let Roger Goodell do what he got to do. Cost of doing business. You pay your fine. But the benefit far outweighs the punishment because now he knows you got his back. So now you’re going to get everything this young man got and then what? That’s how you build a bond, man. The Ravens team I was on, you do that.”
