Curran is that rare Sports MSM guy who isn't afraid to be outside the echo chamber, isn't afraid to sometimes be thoughtful while skeptical.
The echo chamber, the band of lemmings, they like to wait for the meme to snowball then join the chorus. It's one giant warped short stroke session that begins with the top of the pyramid lemmings that receive marching orders from the power at the NFL office and big network media top floors. It's especially awesome when the meme starts gaining steam and almost the whole echo chamber starts working backward attempting to manufacture new angles or echo/validate already manufactured angles, In my opinion one of their very best moments is when an aspect of the meme starts collapsing under the weight of thought/reality. When that happens they simply don't mention it again (pretend it is already decided as fact, only mention it again in passing as accepted fact/evidence of the new angle) by working backwards toward another aspect/another sub-headline. There literally is never a reckoning within the group short stroke echo chamber.
But on this one even Curran needs chiding. It isn't because he is wrong (good story) but because he is a day late and a dollar short. A reasonable person, a person not run by his/her emotions, cannot be surprised by what the NFL office does. The NFL office is a combination of the worst of big money, big corp, politics, media, with an underlying system of values based on feeding red meat to the mob/ruses to control the message/PR ethics. And there is no end in sight for their behavior because their entertainment product puts the proverbial food on the table of a whole lot of people who control what is spoken on TV news and shows (as well as a large majority of owners who think the system is swell just as it is).