Evidence? Not Here, Goodell, NFL Play to the Crowd, Slam Brady, Patriots
 In happier times, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. This latest episode will likely spell an end to their friendship and possibly Goodell's tenure. (USA TODAY Images) |
You really think people are going to be seduced by that? I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob... Gladiator
When the Wells Report was released a few days ago, it read like a very self-serving piece for what the NFL was trying to portray…that is the important fact more than anything else. They were looking for a smoking gun against the Patriots and Bill Belichick. Tom Brady was just the convenient target here.
The NFL wasn’t interested in finding out the truth. They and Goodell were only interested in punishing New England…to catch them in the act. To slam their hand in the cookie jar, and after four months, the evidence wasn’t there, that didn’t stop them. The league even ignored their own “evidence” of the Patriots or Bill Belichick having no role in this supposed rule infraction and slammed the team anyway.
Consistency Lacking: The word consistency has never resonated well with the folks on Park Avenue when it comes to meting out discipline. That’s why Goodell opened the windows and stuck his nose in the air and although his Wells Report produced as many questions as answers, concluded the people and the other 31 teams, sick of New England success wanted blood.
In a punishment that in no way fits the crime….if a crime ever did take place, Goodell, not Troy Vincent who penned the letter, slammed Brady to the tune of a four-game suspension. The Patriots got a hefty $1 million dollar fine and although there was no direct evidence linking this to Belichick, something which must have really disappointed the league, they took his coveted draft picks. A #1 pick in 2016 and a #4 pick in 2017.
So Brady was suspended for four games for being “at least generally aware” that there was a possible rules violation taking place. That is about a ridiculous a statement and a draconian measure to serve punishment.
The Chargers in 2012 weren’t “generally aware” of a towel with stickum being used on the sidelines for their footballs, they were openly doing it. It was a rule violation and taking away the “integrity of the game. The league’s response, “ho-hum, a $25,000 fine, and please don’t do it again.”
And in 2014, the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers game in Minneapolis clearly showed game footballs being manipulated using warming towels next to sideline heaters, which is a clear rule violation. No hue and cry from the mob, no call for independent investigation, no tearful tirades on the four-letter network. The league’s response, “Please don’t do it again.” No fine, no foul, no suspensions….nada.
Forget about the Ray Rice two-game suspension, apparently a pound of air pressure is twice as dastardly as punching out a woman in an elevator.
This Will Be the End of Goodell: At the beginning of a Patriots Central podcast for Pro Football Central early on Monday evening, I stated at the outset of the show, that this latest sorry episode by the Commissioner and the league will prove his undoing. And you can book this one. Whoever wins the Super Bowl next February in San Francisco will be getting the trophy handed to them by someone other than Roger Goodell.
This was a sting operation from the beginning and the Patriots objections that the league was biased from the outset were simply brushed aside by the self-serving Wells Report. Greg Bedard from SI, had a piece that showed the league was out to get the Patriots from the beginning. In an excerpt from his article Bedard notes, Mike Kensil, the NFL’s VP of game operations, walked up to Patriots equipment manager Dave Schoenfeld on the sideline after halftime and said, “We weighed the balls. You are in big f------ trouble.” New England and Kraft thought this incident, and others, showed bias by the league and would be explored in the Wells report.
A single phone call to New England prior to the AFC Championship Game, concerning the issue at hand would have put this to rest. But Goodell and the NFL were out to get New England and although their evidence fell far short of providing a smoking gun, they proceeded with it.
Some believe that this move by Goodell was meant to show that he’s the boss and he is beholden to none, something that has been rumored as he and Robert Kraft were once close.
Kraft lobbied for Goodell to get the Commissioner’s job and helped raise his salary three fold. With the contentious CBA meetings taking place in 2011, it was Kraft who convinced the players, who roundly detested and distrusted the Commissioner to stick with him and his influence got the deal done.
Goodell probably didn’t react well to Kraft’s demand for an apology after the outcry of the original Deflate-gate hysteria and wanted to show everyone who’s the boss in the NFL. Perhaps it was the last act of a desperate man to keep his job. It will prove his undoing, sooner rather than later.
What’s Next for Brady?: This story is far from over….far from it. As Mr. Churchill put it, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The fact that Tom Brady will appeal is a no-brainer, his biggest argument and a compelling one is that the punishment levied by the NFL is arbitrary. If they appeal to the league, Commissioner Goodell can appoint an “independent” arbitrator or place himself (unlikely), as the ruling authority.
Another avenue and one I foresee coming is Brady suing the NFL in Federal Court. With the flimsy evidence, obvious bias on the part of the league and a self-serving Wells Report will make for an interesting court case.
Brady’s agent Don Yee skewered the suspension stating, “The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis. In my opinion, this outcome was pre-determined; there was no fairness in the Wells Report whatsoever.” Yee went to on to state, “The NFL has a well-documented history of making poor disciplinary decisions that often are overturned when truly independent judges and arbitrators preside.
This one will end up in court….and it will not look pretty for anyone; Brady, the NFL and most especially Roger Goodell.
At my signal, unleash hell.
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
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