Robert Kraft defends Roger Goodell: "The way he has handled this situation is excellent"

Ivan said:

There is no way the owners take any action against [Goodell]. They are going to try to change the topic, distract the pubic and weather this out.

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I largely agree with this. So the only 2 ways I see Goodell being dumped are (1) new evidence showing that he had information but failed to act (as you state), and (2) enough sustained uproar that it convinces the owners that this story isn't going to go away, and will hurt them economically. SB39 is very cynical about the chances of the latter occurring, and he's probably right.

yes, I agree 100% Ivan...this is why there was ZERO visibility of the biggest media whore outside of Vince McMahon the past few days. Zero. Silence. The commissioner of the league who's bombastic "protect the shield!!!" sloganeering has propelled him into so many imbroglios that Miguel de Cervantes would have to hire Halliburton to construct enough windmills to satiate the Man of La Dumbcha's penchant for stepping on his...er...little piggly squiggly.

mayoclinic said:

I largely agree with this. So the only 2 ways I see Goodell being dumped are (1) new evidence showing that he had information but failed to act (as you state), and (2) enough sustained uproar that it convinces the owners that this story isn't going to go away, and will hurt them economically. SB39 is very cynical about the chances of the latter occurring, and he's probably right.

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Unfortunately it is unlikely that there will be absolute proof Goodell lied, so option one is most likely out of play, and now that Rice is out of the league there is really nothing that would cause future protests that will keep the issue in the spotlight. Had Rice still been on the ravens then I would have expected womens groups to create a spectacle at the thursday night game and put pressure on Goodell and the owners to do something, but with him gone there is really nothing to latch onto unless Joker can finish off that massive sculpture of Rice decking Janay while Goodell pins her arms back and get it up outside the stadium before kickoff on Thursday.

Go Joker Go.............

Ivan said:

Much as I agree Pissah it is never going to happen, Bob Kraft is the canary in the coal mine for the owners, the moment he came out to publicly support Goodell was the moment that any possibility of Goodell being forced out ended. Unless someone comes out with absolute proof that he watched the video and lied about there is no way the owners take any action against him. They are going to try to change the topic, distract the pubic and weather this out.

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I agree that it will not happen.
That is why my concluding wish was that their support for Goodell here costs them $

I would love to see Goodell and his ridiculous Draft Day "BroHugs" forced to resign under public pressure. Please someone with serious media clout go after him publicly and LOUDLY.......F him....

Ivan said:

Much as I agree Pissah it is never going to happen, Bob Kraft is the canary in the coal mine for the owners, the moment he came out to publicly support Goodell was the moment that any possibility of Goodell being forced out ended. Unless someone comes out with absolute proof that he watched the video and lied about there is no way the owners take any action against him. They are going to try to change the topic, distract the pubic and weather this out.

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I'm not sure I agree. I think the firestorm has just begun, and I think the owner's tune could change overnight when it becomes apparent how much good will Goodell has cost them.

PatsWickedPissah said:

I agree that it will not happen.
That is why my concluding wish was that their support for Goodell here costs them $

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Me too, agree completely. Loved your call for buying no more jerseys.

Just the elevator? I assume, when in a casino, that I am being taped even in the men's room. This didn't occur to Goodell and his crack legal team?

PatsFanSince74 said:

My guess is that they made a simple assessment that the continued hit to the NFL brand and to its fleeting hopes to attract more women viewers was far greater than the cost of litigating Rice's contract, should it ever come down to that.

Or, to put it in technical, legal jargon, the NFL decided to say to Rice and the NFLPA, "You don't like it? So, sue me."

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Although I strongly suspect that the NFL will resist it, I'd love to see Goodell testify under oath.

Bella*chick said:

Why on earth did Kraft have to open his mouth on this? Have any other owners said anything? Is it because he is the most powerful? It looks awful, really really bad. If I'm a fan of some other team who thinks the Spygate punishment was too light and it was all a coverup, Bob Kraft saying that this disaster of epic proportions was excellently handled just looks like Kraft protecting Goodell because of the "favor" he presumably owes him after Spygate. Because based on what Goodell's bumbling did then, Kraft should loathe the guy. But he clearly doesn't. He's not even neutral. And after something like this? Why????

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Who knows?

crew1954 said:

Just the elevator? I assume, when in a casino, that I am being taped even in the men's room. This didn't occur to Goodell and his crack legal team?

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Of course they knew there was video from inside the elevator. Goodell & Co. weren't interested in the welfare of the victim here; they were in damage control mode. They wanted this to go away as quickly as possible, and a video of one of their star players punching out his fiance was bad, bad publicity for the NFL. They didn't have to see the video to know that.

My theory? I suspect they tried to make the elevator video go away, or hoped it would never surface. The defense team certainly didn't want it released, so they were safe there. The police had already come down on Rice with a slap on the wrist, so they wouldn't want the video going public either. The casino was probably pressured into 'losing' the video as well, but when it closed down for good, some employee with access no longer feared any job loss, and sold it to TMZ.

raduray said:

Although I strongly suspect that the NFL will resist it, I'd love to see Goodell testify under oath.

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You'd see his nose grow out the courtroom door, across the street and and into the Hudson River...

When BB refrains from throwing a coach or player under the bus, we usually admire him for it, even when that guy deserves loads of criticism.

PrairiePat said:

The casino was probably pressured into 'losing' the video as well, but when it closed down for good, some employee with access no longer feared any job loss, and sold it to TMZ.

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Oh, I hadn't made the casino-shutdown connection. Was this even really in one of the casinos that just shut down? That could explain a lot.

Fencer said:

When BB refrains from throwing a coach or player under the bus, we usually admire him for it, even when that guy deserves loads of criticism.

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You mean when he doesn't speak about someone without the facts? I'm not sure I get your point. People are saying Kraft should have kept his mouth shut...that's what BB would have done

Fencer said:

When BB refrains from throwing a coach or player under the bus, we usually admire him for it, even when that guy deserves loads of criticism.

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If Kraft had refrained from criticizing Goodell, I'd be fine with that. But praising him for how excellently he handled this would be akin to Belichick praising the offensive line for how excellently it played on Sunday. Yes, he would get loads of crap from this board of he did that.

FirstAndGoal said:

You mean when he doesn't speak about someone without the facts? I'm not sure I get your point. People are saying Kraft should have kept his mouth shut...that's what BB would have done

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No doubt about that. What Kraft said must make BB cringe.

PrairiePat said:

Of course they knew there was video from inside the elevator. Goodell & Co. weren't interested in the welfare of the victim here; they were in damage control mode. They wanted this to go away as quickly as possible, and a video of one of their star players punching out his fiance was bad, bad publicity for the NFL. They didn't have to see the video to know that.

My theory? I suspect they tried to make the elevator video go away, or hoped it would never surface. The defense team certainly didn't want it released, so they were safe there. The police had already come down on Rice with a slap on the wrist, so they wouldn't want the video going public either. The casino was probably pressured into 'losing' the video as well, but when it closed down for good, some employee with access no longer feared any job loss, and sold it to TMZ.

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Good clear post. I wonder if the police are squirming over this video---god knows, they should be. If the police would do actual real police work in all these dom. violence cases, the league could simply follow suit from their evidence and/or prosecutions.

Good points. Kraft did go beyond the sort of thing that BB does.

Meanwhile, on another message board it's suggested that the timing of the video coming out has something to do with the casino going out of business. I haven't checked whether this is indeed one of the casinos that just closed -- but if it is, perhaps an employee with duty/incentive to cover up or at least to not repurpose internal security video for his/her own benefit picked the end of his/her employment at the casino as a trigger for leaking the video.