Raiders' Justin Fargas: Pigeon on Field Was Spirit of Marquis Cooper

During Sunday's Eagles-Raiders game, a pigeon went onto the field, stopped briefly near where the Raiders were lining up for a kickoff, and then flew downfield in the same direction as the Raiders' coverage unit. It made for a funny viral video, but one Oakland player, Justin Fargas, thinks it was much more: he thinks the pigeon was the reincarnation of deceased ex-Raider Marquis Cooper.

Cooper and former Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith died in a boating accident in February, and Fargas said in a radio interview this week that he thinks Cooper may have come back to Oakland in the form of that pigeon.

"It seemed comfortable on the football field and comfortable flying down there literally on special teams," Cooper said on KHTK in Sacramento, as transcribed by Sports Radio Interviews. "It very well could have been Marquis."

Fargas's belief that Cooper came back to Oakland inside the body of a pigeon strikes me as more than a little odd, but if that belief helps him through the grief of losing a friend, well, more power to him. If Cooper is helping the Raiders in the body of a pigeon, the Raiders will take all the help they can get.