Remembering When a Pigeon Helped the Raiders' Special Teams and May Have Been the Ghost of a Former Teammate
By Nick Porr
The Raiders have been home to plenty of NFL legends: Gene Upshaw, Tim Brown, and ... a pigeon? On September 20, 2009, a wayward pigeon lined up alongside the Raider's special teams for a kickoff.
The bird had hustle, and bolted down the field with the team in coverage. By some strange miracle, it actually moved in stride with the players and followed the ball's location fairly well. The incident was wild enough to begin with, and that's without taking into account where the pigeon lined up.
There’s a deeper story: The bird lined up in the exact same spot usually occupied by Marquis Cooper, our linebacker who tragically lost his life in a boating accident earlier that year.
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) May 5, 2020
“That’s Marquis,” tackle Cornell Green said after the game. https://t.co/7cKfIuzYOw
And there may have been some divine intervention here.
On March 1, 2009, linebacker Marquis Cooper's boat capsized off the coast of Clearwater, Florida. The tragic death shook the Raiders organization, so we'd like to think it was Cooper in spirit running down the field with his former teammates.
We can't help but acknowledge that symbolism given the eerie occurrence here, especially after former Raider Cornell Green believed it was Cooper. RIP to Cooper and long live this pidgeon.