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Interesting interview with Jags beat writer Vito Stellino, who has been covering the NFL for 51 years. A couple of questions touched on the difference between Rozelle and Goodell:
Talking Football with longtime NFL scribe Vito Stellino | The MMQB with Peter King
VRENTAS: The Karras and Hornung suspensions for betting on NFL games were often referenced earlier this year, before Tom Brady's Deflategate discipline was overturned.
STELLINO: And, of course, Deflategate turned out to be nothing. It’s a great example of the difference between Roger Goodell and Pete Rozelle. Hornung and Karras were actually guilty. We don’t know what happened in Deflategate. There’s no evidence anything did happen. They should have shut it down. They should have issued a statement the day the Colts complained, saying, “We have never tested balls at halftime in a game and we don’t know what happens in cold weather. We’ll look into it next year.” Everybody would have forgotten about it. Instead, they turned it into this unbelievable thing that they are still appealing. Now the NFL is comparing it to the 1919 Black Sox. The Black Sox threw the World Series. Even if the Patriots did it—and there is no evidence they did—they were trying to win. The comparison is just unbelievable.
VRENTAS: You’ve covered both men as commissioner. What are the differences between Rozelle and Goodell in your experience?
STELLINO: Rozelle was a natural leader. And he had a great sense of, We work for the teams, the teams don’t work for us. With Goodell, it’s like the teams work for him. And Rozelle would always say, “We kick off at 1 o’clock on Sundays.” He was into the football. Goodell is into the marketing and all this other stuff. There’s never a sense of what’s too much. Now, nothing is too much. He wants to play 18 games. He’s been very slow on the concussion issue, which is still a major problem. And then, of course, so many things like Deflategate; and Bountygate, which he turned into an unbelievable thing until finally Paul Tagliabue had to say enough is enough, and lifted the [player] suspensions. Rozelle had a deft touch. They had some Thursday night games under Rozelle, and he decided that was too much, and they shut it down. He kind of decided, you can’t overexpose, and you want people to anticipate things. Now it is back, and now they play every Thursday night.
Talking Football with longtime NFL scribe Vito Stellino | The MMQB with Peter King