Blank Says Pats’ “Failure To Acknowledge” Caused Hammer To Fall

[papachaz 19,230]

Bigger reach than Dez Southward in the 3rd.

but not the Holmes reach in the 3rd, hard to top that one

[GEORGIAfan 18,722]

NFLPA is appealing and going to call Goodell as witness to prevent him from being the arbitrator. I hope that the evidence is strong, because without solid evidence and no goodell as Judge, Jury, and Executioner, this may fall flat on his face. Brady is about to get away with it, because probably knew does not work.

[freebird310 9,549]

meh

[chazbykr 457]

Not enough proof for me. Hope they nail Goodall. This is a real good ,I think, non biased article on this whole thing.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4781529/thoughts-and-ket-points-on-the-patriots-rebuttal-to-wells-report

Edited May 16, 2015 by Charles Wright

[AtlantaFanatic 5,246]

but not the Holmes reach in the 3rd, hard to top that one

I'm sensing a pattern.

Did better this year.

[Sun Tzu 7 13,951]

Did you notice how you said that all of those teams ADMITTED to what they did?

The Pats DID NOT admit to spygate. They DID NOT admit to this. Every single time they are caught doing something illegal they lie and deflect. Bellichick has lied multiple times. He said he had zero knowledge of spygate and this. Sean Payton just got suspended for an entire year for bountygate because the NFL said ignorance is no excuse. We were completely fine with that because it's the Saints.

You keep saying this is a witch hunt against the Pats. Why on gods green earth would the NFL go after one of it's most popular franchises and players just because? That makes literally zero sense.

Goodell established this pattern of behavior long ago starting with Vick.

Admit what you did and accept the punishment and move on. If you try to deny, lie, or not cooperate then he drops the hammer.

[Sun Tzu 7 13,951]

Yeah, people are acting like it's Kraft vs Goodell or some crap. Goodell isn't the NFL, the Owners are. And if they get pissed at you, everything gets harder.

And that's why the owners LOVE Goodell. He's the perfect bad guy. He makes everyone forget the owners are in charge.

Public perception is when something bad happens in the NFL its Goodell's fault. I loved during the lockout people thought Goodell was somehow responsible instead of the owners.

And that's why Goodell will never lose his job... Unless there's another major Ray Rice type of screw up.

[Drunken Minotaur Zebra 7,215]

In a lot of cases in life it really does help to admit a failure or mistake, apologize, and try and fix the problem.

That said, also in many cases in life it helps to just shut up and feign ignorance.

Mastering both is key

[BritFalcon 149]

To be fair, a lot of what has happened is uncharted territory, which is why it seems that he is always trying to catch-up with the latest situation.

But he's the commissioner of the NFL! He's paid an exorbitant salary to be one step ahead of any potential scandal. Yet he's always reactionary in his decisions. He's always wondering what the public and the media think because he doesn't have the fortitude to do go by with his own professional judgment. You can tell that he used to be in PR, but even that job requires you to make a plan that factors in all potential outcomes.

The more he relies on the public, media and the remorse of players to guide the size of punishment that he dishes out, the more inconsistent his judgments are going to be. He needs to rip up the rulebook and have punishments set in stone, so that there is no variance when he decides on certain cases. It also needs to include every potential scenario where a rule would be broken. Players cheat and they will always cheat until somebody catches them. He can't keep getting caught with his pants down every time some player breaks a flipping rule.

[Lornoth 12,228]

And that's why the owners LOVE Goodell. He's the perfect bad guy. He makes everyone forget the owners are in charge.

Public perception is when something bad happens in the NFL its Goodell's fault. I loved during the lockout people thought Goodell was somehow responsible instead of the owners.

And that's why Goodell will never lose his job... Unless there's another major Ray Rice type of screw up.

It's unfortunate how few realize this, I'd feel bad for Goodell if he wasn't making so much money to be hated. Lol

[rounz 2,486]

..also needs to include every potential scenario where a rule would be broken. Players cheat and they will always cheat until somebody catches them. He can't keep getting caught with his pants down every time some player breaks a flipping rule.

But see, this is impossible.

That's why we have amendments to the Constitution and append and pass new laws all the time (although given a scope limited to football, they could cover most stuff).

I think that his first mistake was not realizing that he was going to have to revisit these scenarios again and again.

He was basically putting out fires, not thinking of setting up a judicial system.

But after it became apparent that these weren't just isolated incidents, then he should have brought in outside help (judges, lawyers, negotiators, etc.) to set up a fair system.

And after that, he should have had no say in it's operation.

[BritFalcon 149]

But see, this is impossible.

That's why we have amendments to the Constitution and append and pass new laws all the time.

I think that his first mistake was not realizing that he was going to have to revisit these scenarios again and again.

He was basically putting out fires, not thinking of setting up a judicial system.

But after it became apparent that these weren't just isolated incidents, then he should have brought in outside help (judges, lawyers, negotiators, etc.) to set up a fair system.

And after that, he should have had no say in it's operation.

He can't predict domestic assault? Really? He can't already have a rule in place where tampering with official NFL equipment is punishable by a suspension of a set number of games? These seem like pretty routine things that would affect the image and reputation of the league or its 32 member franchises. I'm not asking for him to legislate for every possible scenario, just the one's that you would think would occur on a regular basis. Spygate, Deflategate, Noisegate (though I don't understand why that one is an issue, personally) all should have set punishments already on the books. The fact that Goodell doesn't have anything in place by now is completely outrageous and just demonstrates how incompetent he is at his job.

[rounz 2,486]

He can't predict domestic assault? Really? He can't already have a rule in place where tampering with official NFL equipment is punishable by a suspension of a set number of games? These seem like pretty routine things that would affect the image and reputation of the league or its 32 member franchises. I'm not asking for him to legislate for every possible scenario, just the one's that you would think would occur on a regular basis. Spygate, Deflategate, Noisegate (though I don't understand why that one is an issue, personally) all should have set punishments already on the books. The fact that Goodell doesn't have anything in place by now is completely outrageous and just demonstrates how incompetent he is at his job.

Basically, I think you're confusing Goodell with a crusader. He didn't take that job for the purpose of cleaning up the NFL.

He took the job of guiding it and/or keeping it steady according to the owners' wishes.

And the situations you mentioned?

Well, I could ask why these things weren't enforced before Goodell since they are so obvious.

But it's probably a combination of things. Social media access has been a large part of it, along with a changing view on certain issues.

He happened to come in at a time when these things were changing.

Take domestic abuse.

Of course it has always been around, but people sort of turned the other way.

I'm sure people around the league knew about cases, but didn't talk about it. Heck, even the law used to wink at it.

So players weren't punished for any incidents.

Now it's being brought out, and the fact that the NFL has seen many of it's players involved, it was necessary to put something in place.

As far as cheating in the game, I'm sure there was already a rule that says :"Don't Cheat" but wasn't specifically applied to ball pressure. For that matter why hasn't he gotten rid of refs and installed lasers and computers?

I think you'll have to admit that cheating has always been a part of sports, and someone always finds a new way to do it.

The best we can hope is that when they find a loophole, they plug it.

[BritFalcon 149]

Goodell's job does involve acting on behalf of the league's owners. However, the public perception of the league is of paramount importance to him, which is why he always references "respecting the shield" whenever he does interviews. Why did he wait several days after the Wells Report was released to tell the Patriots and Brady what their punishment was? Because all of his decisions are predicated on what the public outcry is and how it will affect the league's image.

The way he handled domestic abuse last season typified all that is wrong with Goodell. Who cares if people turned a blind eye to it before? He's the commissioner! The NFL has a fairly large female fanbase. He owes it to them to have robust punishments whenever some player beats his wife or girlfriend. It shouldn't take a public reaction for him to grow some balls and do something about it. He's paid a lot of money to make sure that the NFL's image isn't completely tarnished by the likes of Ray Rice and Greg Hardy. The fact remains that he gets caught out too often whenever scandals occur, bungles every investigation he is a part of and then decides how to punish transgressors based on factors that have very little to do with the actual crime (public opinion, media opinion, identity of owner, whether player says sorry or not).

[rounz 2,486]

Goodell's job does involve acting on behalf of the league's owners. However, the public perception of the league is of paramount importance to him, which is why he always references "respecting the shield" whenever he does interviews. Why did he wait several days after the Wells Report was released to tell the Patriots and Brady what their punishment was? Because all of his decisions are predicated on what the public outcry is and how it will affect the league's image.

The way he handled domestic abuse last season typified all that is wrong with Goodell. Who cares if people turned a blind eye to it before? He's the commissioner! The NFL has a fairly large female fanbase. He owes it to them to have robust punishments whenever some player beats his wife or girlfriend. It shouldn't take a public reaction for him to grow some balls and do something about it. He's paid a lot of money to make sure that the NFL's image isn't completely tarnished by the likes of Ray Rice and Greg Hardy. The fact remains that he gets caught out too often whenever scandals occur, bungles every investigation he is a part of and then decides how to punish transgressors based on factors that have very little to do with the actual crime (public opinion, media opinion, identity of owner, whether player says sorry or not).

I do understand what you're saying, and I agree that he should have no part in the internal justice process.

I'm just trying to point out that the NFL isn't the only organization trying to catch up with our changing perceptions of what is right.

This is a turbulent time socially and it's gonna take some time for the rules to catch up with society.

Obviously we're not gonna agree, but I appreciate the civil debate.

[wleggett 625]

Goodell's job does involve acting on behalf of the league's owners. However, the public perception of the league is of paramount importance to him, which is why he always references "respecting the shield" whenever he does interviews. Why did he wait several days after the Wells Report was released to tell the Patriots and Brady what their punishment was? Because all of his decisions are predicated on what the public outcry is and how it will affect the league's image.

The way he handled domestic abuse last season typified all that is wrong with Goodell. Who cares if people turned a blind eye to it before? He's the commissioner! The NFL has a fairly large female fanbase. He owes it to them to have robust punishments whenever some player beats his wife or girlfriend. It shouldn't take a public reaction for him to grow some balls and do something about it. He's paid a lot of money to make sure that the NFL's image isn't completely tarnished by the likes of Ray Rice and Greg Hardy. The fact remains that he gets caught out too often whenever scandals occur, bungles every investigation he is a part of and then decides how to punish transgressors based on factors that have very little to do with the actual crime (public opinion, media opinion, identity of owner, whether player says sorry or not).

For better or worse the NFL is held to a higher standard in some regards. Granted a UPS delivery man doesn't make a fraction of what some NFL players do but you don't see UPS running campaigns for domestic violence or any of the other hot topic items. Nobody can tell me there's no wife/girlfriend beaters working at UPS. I don't see UPS drivers wearing pink or painting their vehicles pink. I appreciate that they're trying to get the word out on this stuff but really do I need to listen to a 15 min piece about how a man shouldn't beat his wife before a monday night football game? I turn the game on the watch football not watch a stage for every public flavor of the week discussion.

[Sun Tzu 7 13,951]

For better or worse the NFL is held to a higher standard in some regards. Granted a UPS delivery man doesn't make a fraction of what some NFL players do but you don't see UPS running campaigns for domestic violence or any of the other hot topic items. Nobody can tell me there's no wife/girlfriend beaters working at UPS. I don't see UPS drivers wearing pink or painting their vehicles pink. I appreciate that they're trying to get the word out on this stuff but really do I need to listen to a 15 min piece about how a man shouldn't beat his wife before a monday night football game? I turn the game on the watch football not watch a stage for every public flavor of the week discussion.

You're also forgetting the national media coverage. If a UPS delivery man had any kind of media coverage for a domestic violence charge they might be suspended. However they have a union as well so it's a process. Also UPS delivery men can make up to 6 figures.

And let's also forget when we talk about all these player issues that Goodell has been screwing up on we're talking about 1-2% of the players in the NFL.

You never hear about the other 98% of the players that make up the bottom 3/4 of the roster because if there is any issue those guys are cut immediately.

How many guys have not been on the Falcons roster the following season after a DUI?

The only guy I recall getting in any significant legal issues and still be on the roster was Babineaux