OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas cornerback Orlando Scandrick blamed his positive drug test that led to a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs on a recreational drug he took in Mexico that he didn’t know contained an amphetamine.
Scandrick took the blame for the error Tuesday and apologized to his family, teammates and organization for the mistake that will force him to miss the first month of the season.
“It was just a bad decision,” he said. “I should have never done it. I didn’t do it with the intent of knowing it would test positive. I know we get random tests, but I don’t take anything to enhance my performance. I wasn’t taking anything to enhance my performance.”
Scandrick tested positive in April but appealed the penalty. The suspension was upheld Monday and the league officially announced the suspension on Tuesday.
Scandrick apologized to his teammates Monday night and said he appreciated the support he got from them.
“We’re here for each other,” Scandrick said. “I just let them know that I was sorry and that if they can learn anything from this, it’s you need to do all the right things even when no one is looking or you don’t think anyone is looking.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones praised Scandrick for the way he owned up to the mistake and said he will be welcomed back after the suspension.
“The most important thing to him is letting us all down and he recognizes that,” Jones said. “As a person, he’s one of the best people we’ve had on the Dallas Cowboys. He made a mistake.”
Scandrick’s agent, Ron Slavin, says he believes that if testing for human growth hormone was in place that Scandrick would have been subjected to the substance abuse policy and been warned instead of receiving a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
“More than 80 missed games, millions of dollars in fines and bonus repayments have been issued because the NFLPA and NFL cannot come to an agreement,” Slavin said in a statement. “The only people who are losing in this standoff are the players and fans.”
This is just the latest hit to a defense that allowed the most yards in the NFL last season. Linebacker Sean Lee is out for the season after tearing a left knee ligament in the offseason, defensive end Anthony Spencer is still working his way back from knee surgery and franchise career sack leader DeMarcus Ware was released in March.
The Cowboys have known for some time that Scandrick was facing the ban and coach Jason Garrett said the team will miss Scandrick’s versatility as an outside and slot cornerback and his leadership.
“He brings a great spirit to our team,” Garrett said. “He plays the right way. Not to have him for the first four games will impact us. Like with an injury it’s the kind of situation that provides an opportunity. We have some young corners who are going to vie for his role in the early part of the season.”
Scandrick, who is going into his seventh season, became a starter last year when former top 10 pick Morris Claiborne struggled. Now Claiborne is battling tendinitis in his right knee and missed the preseason opener for the third time in his three seasons in Dallas.
Brandon Carr, the other starter, missed the first two weeks of camp to be with his mother in the final days of her battle against breast cancer. He might only play one preseason game, but is expected to be ready for the regular season.
Carr and Claiborne are expected to start on the outside with Sterling Moore, B.W. Webb and rookie Terrance Mitchell expected to get looks as the slot cornerback in nickel formations.
Raiders-Cowboys practice gets heated
OXNARD, Calif. — The joint practice between the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys went just about how the coaches scripted it Tuesday with high intensity in an emotional environment.
Then things went a bit over the line when a hard hit by Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne on Oakland tight end Mychal Rivera led to a brawl that nearly spilled over into the stands and featured a Raiders fan swinging a helmet at a Cowboys player and cornerback B.W. Webb retaliating with a swing at the fan.
Webb called it a “dangerous situation” and says he doesn’t know why fans would try to get involved.
Raiders coach Dennis Allen says he did not like the fight, but was pleased with the intensity of the practice.
Broncos linebacker Trevathan out 6-8 weeks
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Denver Broncos leading tackler Danny Trevathan is out six to eight weeks after fracturing his left knee during a particularly intense padded practice Tuesday.
The Broncos said their weakside linebacker has what’s called a medial tibial impaction fracture but, fortunately, no torn ligaments.
“Well, we were hoping it was a bruise. That would have been the best news,” coach John Fox said after the team’s evening walk-through. “But obviously, that’s better than ligament damage. Those are out-for-the-season types of things. So, at some point we will get him back.”
Trevathan, who didn’t put any weight on his left leg after being carted off the field during team drills, is expected to return to the Broncos right around their bye week in late September, meaning he’d only miss three regular season games, at most.
He was hurt on an 11-on-11 run play in which center Will Montgomery rolled over him.
Trevathan, a sixth-round draft choice out of Kentucky in 2012, is coming off a breakout season in which he led the Broncos with 124 tackles and intercepted three passes before leading the team with two dozen tackles in the playoffs.