Goodell is in a predicament at the moment, and of course, we all like to point out that it is a predicament of his own making.
To wit: currently, one Philly/Comcast-happy senator is looming over the National Football League, attempting to gather ammunition to fire at the NFL, in this situation, a proxy for the New England Patriots.
Strategically, Goodell is now in a position where it is to his advantage to say to the world "I was not acting to derail one franchise. I was acting as part of a larger plan to clean up the parts of football that are just institutionally dirty, from time immemorial."
If Goodell is painted as having one rogue franchise on his hands, that plays into the talk of a coverup.
If Goodell inherited a traditionally "dirty" league, which only looks dirty because Goodell has just come among us to heroically shine the bright light of truth into all the NFL's nooks and crannies, that plays into a perception that the league would not cover up further infractions on the part of the Patriots.
It is to Goodell's advantage to portray his own zealotry earlier this season as part of a broad and ongoing crusade to clean up the league. It is to his disadvantage to throw the Patriots under the bus. ("Yes of course they're doing it but we're too weak and ineffectual to truly impose measure that will stop the monster Patriots, Mr. Senator, and besides, we really want the rotten crooks to keep winning..." <- not a good posture.)
PFnV