Oakland Raiders: Ray-Ray Armstrong Adds Insult To Injury In Pittsburgh

The Oakland Raiders are coming off one of their most devastating and gut-wrenching losses of the season and are left to wonder what might have been. A late and total defensive collapse allowed Antonio Brown to gallop free for 57 yards to get the Steelers into position to kick a last second field goal to win the game 38-35. And if that weren’t bad enough on its own, Raiders linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong went and poured some salt into Oakland’s fresh, bloody wounds.

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The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Armstrong for being an absolute knucklehead in the first degree.

Okay, being a total knucklehead is unforutnately, not actually an arrestable offense, so Armstrong is being investigated for taunting a sheriff’s department K-9 service dog named Banditt who was patrolling for explosives.

While on the surface it may sound like a charge that can be laughed at – who taunts a service dog? – it’s incredibly far from a laughing matter. In Pennsylvania, taunting said service dog is considered a third-degree felony and is punishable by jail time and a considerable fine.

In discussing the investigation with the media, Allegheny County Deputy Chief Kevin Kraus was quoted as saying:

"“The player was leaving the locker room, en route to the field, when he engaged in conduct that was very intimidating and threatening.”"

According to sources who spoke to members of the media, Armstrong – in an apparent need to display his masculinity and dominance over Banditt? – was seen lifting his shirt, beating his chest, jumping up and down, screaming and barking at the dog.

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In other words, Armstrong was basically seen to be acting like an immature moron.

Taunting a police K-9 is relatively low on the crime scale that NFL players routinely find themselves on. Armstrong is not Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, or Adrian Peterson. And he’s most certainly not Michael Vick or Prince Shembo.

But what Armstrong did was incredibly stupid because that service dog at the stadium doing a job that helps protect not just his life but the lives of everybody else in the stadium. Not only that, Armstrong has now put his team in a very precarious position.

If he is officially arrested and charged by the Allegheny County Sheriff’s office, Armstrong will be subject to discipline by the NFL’s league offices. And we all know just how backward and inconsistent Commissioner Roger Goodell is when handing down punishment.

Given his track record – not to mention the fact that Goodell is pretty much just making it up as he goes – Armstrong is likely to get a lifetime ban.

Armstrong is listed as Aldon Smith‘s primary backup on the depth chart and has been a valuable rotational player for the Raiders this season. It he’s forced to miss time because of a potential suspension by the league offices, the Raiders will have to scramble to fill the void left by Armstrong’s potential absence.

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Neither the Steelers nor the Raiders have commented on the issue. And there has been a firm no comment coming out of Armstrong’s camp – which is probably the smartest thing he’s done all week. Seriously, what kind of a knucklehead taunts a service dog?

Charges have not yet been filed as the matter is still under review.